













• i •♦ 











t ' * 






» 



e 








* „r 





• » * 



K* £ % 



***** «» ***" 






$* • ^NM"* 



O „ rt 



' f 



-w-% 



**> '. 



••- v"7.^/«> 


















3 ^ 

<^ • e N o 













A 

SKETCH 

OF THE 

HIST0R1T OP WYOMING. 

BY THE LATE ISAAC A. CHAPMAN, ESQ.. 



TO WHICH IS ADDED, 

AN 

APPENDIX, 

CONTAINING A 

STATISTICAL ACCOUNT 

OF THE 

VALLEY, 
AD JACTHFf COUNTRY. 

BY A GENTLEMAN OF WILKESBARRE. 



WILKESBARRE, PENN. 

PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY SHARP D. LEWIS* 

1830. 



€>•< 



COPY-RIGHT, 

SECURED TO THE PUBLISHER 



-=-»® 






c* 



a- rt^3 c / 



.PREFACE, 



— «*»S@ ©**i« 



THE Settlements at Wyoming have been vis* 
lied by so many calamities, and the inhabitants 
have so frequently been carried into captivity, that 
most of those papers from which a regular and cir- 
cumstantial narrative of its early history might 
have been formed, have been destroyed ; and altho r 
there are still living many who were actors in most 
of the principal scenes, yet there are none who bore 
a part in all. And the chain of events, where 
there are not documents to connect them, depends 
on the recollection of various individuals who 
frequently differ from each other concerning the 
same particulars. In the following compilation 
the author has endeavored to relate such facts only 
as are supported by indisputable testimony ; and 
if, as is very probable, he is not in every instance 
correct, he relies with confidence upon the indul- 
gence of a liberal public, who are competent judg- 
es of the difficulty attending the acquisition of 
truth amidst a mass of error and misrepresentations 

Wyoming, July 11, 1818. 

Note by the Publisher, 

Since the MS. of the following pages cam? info 
the hands of the Publisher, he has been furnished 
with a Journal kept by Col. John Jenkins during 
the time of the most serious disasters at Wyoming. 
The writer was particular in giving dates, &c. 
By this Journal, that part of the book which re- 
lates to the battle of Wyoming, has been carefully 
revised and corrected. 

The Publisher lias also been furnished with the 
Journal of a sergeant-major in Sullivan's army 
which has aided in establishing the correctness Of 
^ome parts of the aarrative. 



SKETCH 

OF THE 

HISTORY OF WYOMING* 
—••>►»©©©««—" 

CHAPTER I. 

Description of Wyoming Valley—Remains 'of an* 

cient fortifications— Etymology of the name — ■ 
Indian Tribes — Indian tradition — Delawares— - 
Monceys — Mingoes— Shawanese — Removal of 
the Shawanestfrom the Ohio — Their arrival at 
Wyoming- — Treaty with the Six Nations — 
Speech of Comiassatego — Arrival of the Dela- 
wares at Wyoming— An -rival of Count Zinzen- 
dorf — His reception— Plot to assassinate him* — 
Arrival of the Nanticokes- — Disagreements be- 
tween the English and French—The Six Nations 
take part with the French— Battle between the 
Datawares and Shawanese- — Removal of the Ska- 
-tvanese — Gnaddenhulten built — — Tadeuscun i 
elected King of the Delawares — Fort Allen i- 
—Gnaddenhutten burnt — General Congress at 
Albany — Femo val of th e Nanticokes — Massac re 
at Shamokin — Braddoctfs defeat— Revolt of the 
Delawares— 'First Treaty at Easton — Speed 
Tadenscnnd — Fort Oswego taken ly the Fr>,. 
<~—Genercd Treaty at Easton. 

IT has been remarked by a celebrated histo- 
rian*, that i4 in J d\e infancy of Society men are 
•* ; occupied with t\ie business of the present h 

-Gillies. . 



to SKETCH OF THE 

" forgetful of the past, and regardless of the fu- 
* ture ; " and the experience of all ages and 
countries undoubtedly affords abundant testimony 
to the truth of this declaration. There are how- 
ever, perhaps, few instances in which it has been 
more forcibly exemplified, than in a struggle to 
form a settlement among the mountains of the new 
world. 

That territory, the history of which, is attempt* 
ed to be sketched in the following pages, has ne- 
ver been celebrated either for its extent or power ; 
unless indeed, it may have been among the tribes 
composing its aboriginal inhabitants, of whom ve- 
ry little is now known, but of whom relicks have 
been found indicating a people of more importance 
than those tribes who subsequently occupied the 
country. That however, which renders it par- 
ticularly worthy of notice, is the unexampled suf- 
ferings of its early settlers ; and the frequent de- 
struction of its infant settlements ; subjects 
which have excited the notice of many modern 
historians, and have more recently been the theme 
of a celebrated English bard* J 

Wyoming is t)\e name given to a beautiful Valley 
situate along the river Susquehanna in the North 
Eastern part of the State of Pennsylvania. It is 
about three miles wide, and twenty -live miles long, 
and is formed by two ranges of mountains nearly 
parallel to each other, extending from the North 
oast to the South west. These mountains contain 

tCampb>!l« 



HISTORY OF WYOMING. 7 

Eiany rocky precipices and are covered with wood 
consisting principally of Oak and Pine. The ave- 
rage height of the eastern range is about one thous- 
and feet ; that of the western, about eight hundred. 
They are of a very irregular form having elevated 
points, and deep hollows or openings which are. 
called " Gaps." The Susquehanna enters the 
Valley through a gap in the western mountain 
called the " Lackawannock Gap," and flowing 
in a serpentine course about twenty miles, leaves 
the Valley through another opening in the same 
mountain, called the " Nanticoke Gap, " These 
openings are so wide only as to admit the passage 
©f the river and are in part faced with perpendicu- 
lar bluffs of rocks, covered with a thick growth 
of Pine and Laurel, which have a very fine ap- 
pearance when viewed from the river, or from the 
road which passes along their basis. The river is 
in most places about two hundred yards wide— « 
from four to twenty feet deep, and flows with a 
very gentle current except at the rapids, or when 
swelled with rains or melting snows. Near the 
centre of the Valley it has a rapid called the " Wy- 
oming Falls 5" and another called the " Nanti- 
coke Falls" where it passes through the Nanticoke 
Gap. Several tributarystreams fall into the river, 
after passing through rocky gaps, to the mountains 
on each side of the Valley, forming beautiful cas- 
cades as they descj&nd into the plain. Those on 
the North-west sj(de are Toby's Creek, Moses*' 5 
Creek and Island Run. On the South-east side 
ire Mill Creek, Laurel Run, Solomon's Creek 



8- SKE'PCH OF THE 

and Nanticoke Creek i all of which are sufficient 
for Mills, and abound with fish. 

Along the river, and on both sides, are level 
fertile plains extending in some places nearly a 
mile and an half from the margin of the stream, 
where small hills commence stretching to the 
mountains, the river sometimes washing the base 
of the hills on one side and sometimes on the other. 
The surface of the plain in some parts of the Val- 
ley is elevated about ten feet higher than in other 
parts, forming a sudden offset or declivity . from 
one to the other. These plains are called the up- 
per and lower " Flats, 5 ' and spontaneously pro- 
duce quantities of Plumbs, Grapes, many kinds 
of Berries, and a great variety of wild Flowers. 

In many parts of the Valley, and in the sides of 
the mountains, Mineral Coal of a very superior 
quality is found in great abundance ; it is of the 
species called Anthracite, which burns without 
amoke and with very little flame, and constitutes 
the principal fuel of the inhabitants, as well as 
their most important article of exportation. 

In the Valley of Wyoming there exists some re- 
mains of ancient fortifications which appear to have 
been constructed by a race of people very differ- 
ent in their habits from those who occupied the 
place when first discovered by the whites. Most 
of these ruins have been so much obliterated by 
the operations of agriculture that their forms can- 
not now be distinctly ascertained. That which 
remains the most entire was examined by the wri- 
ter during the summer of 1817, and its dimensions 



HISTORY OF WYOMING. )> 

carefully ascertained, although from frequent 
ploughing, its form had become almost destroyed. 
It is situated in the Township of Kingston, upon 
a level plain on the north side of Toby's Creek 
about one hundred and fifty feet from its bank, 
and about half a mile from its confluence with the 
Susquehanna. It is of an oval or elliptical form, 
having its longest diameter from the N. W. to the 
S. E. at right angles to the Creek, three hundred 
and thirty seven feet, and its shortest diameter 
from the N. E. to the S. W. two hundred and 
seventy two feet. On the S. W. side appears to 
have been a gate way about twelve feet wide, ope- 
ning towards the great Eddy of the River into 
which the Creek falls. From present appearances 
it consisted probably of only one mound or ram- 
part, which, in height and thickness, appears to 
have been the same on all sides, and was construc- 
ted of earth, the plain on which it stands not aboun- 
ding in stone. On the outside of the rampart is 
an entrenchment or ditch, formed probably by re- 
moving the earth of which it is composed, and 
which appears never to have been walled. The 
Creek on which it stands is bounded by a high steep 
bjank on that side, and at ordinary times is suffi- 
ciently deep to admit canoes to ascend from the Ri- 
ver to the Fortification. When the first settlers 
came to Wyoming, this plain was covered with 
its native forest, consisting principally of Oak and 
Yellow Pine ; and the trees which grew in the ram- 
part and in the entrenchment, are said to have 
fteen as large as those in any other part of the Vat- 



10 SKETCH OF THE 

ley ; one large oak particularly, upon being cut 
down, was ascertained to be seven hundred years 
old. The Indians had no tradition concerning 
these fortifications, neither did they appear to have 
any knowledge cf the purposes for which they were 
constructed. They were perhaps, erected about 
the same time with those upon the waters of the 
Ohio, and probably by a similar people and for 
similar purposes. 

Wyoming is a corruption of the name given to 
the place by a nation of Indians called the Dela- 
wares, who called it Maughwauwame. The 
word is a compound \ Maughwau, meaning large 
or extensive, and ivamc, signifying plains or 
meadows ; so that it may be translated " The 
Large Plains." The name in the language of the 
Six Nations, is Sgahontowano, " The Large 
Flats;" 'Gahonto, meaning, in their language, a 
large piece of ground without trees*, by which it 
appears that some part of these plains, probably 
the low r er flats, contained no woods. The Dela- 
wares pronounced the first syllable short, and the 
German Missionaries, in order to give the sound 
as near as possible to the Indian pronuncia- 
tion, wrote the word M'chweuwami. The early 
settlers, finding it difficult to pronounce the word 



*These particulars, the writer obtained from the 
Rev. John Heckaweldar of Bethlehem, who was 
a Missionary among the Indians as early as 1765, 
and to whose politeness he is much indebted. Se^ 
ISTote L at the end of the Volume. 



HISTORY OP WYOMING. 11 

correctly, spoke it FFduwaumie — then Wiwaumi& 
.—then Wiomic, and lastly Wyoming. 

The information which can at present be obtained 
relative to the Indian Tribes who formerly inhabit- 
ed the Valley of Wyoming, is necessarily very 
limited, from the imperfect nature of Indian tradi- 
tion, which forms at present the only memorial of 
its ancient history. There was a tradition among 
the oldest and most learned of the Delawares, that 
their Nation originally came from the western 
shores of North America, and having proceeded 
eastward in quest of a better country, they came 
•to the great River Mississippi, where they found a 
powerful Nation of Indians in possession of the 
country, who had strong fortifications and other 
means of defence unknown to the Delawares.-— 
That this people refused them permission to pass 
through their territories, upon which the Dela* 
wares made war upon them, and cut them to pieces 
in many sanguinary battles ; after which the re- 
mainder went down the river, and have not since 
been heard of. At what period of time these im- 
portant events transpired, does not appear from 
the accounts transmitted to such of their posterity 
aslremained upon the Susquehanna ; and whether 
the tradition is founded in fact may be considered 
as doubtful. The Delawares, like all other 
tribes, were proud of the prowess of their ances- 
tors, and without doubt would consider it as an 
honor to be thought the conquerors of a nation who 
had constructed such extensive works as are indi- 
cated by those ruins so common in the western 



12 SKETCH OF TUB 

country. The question may naturally occur, what 
became of that people who descended the Missis- 
sippi after their dispersion by the Delawares, and 
who were acquainted with the art of fortification ? 
It is not probable that they could have been the 
same with the Mexicans or Peruvians, since their 
traditions will not induce a belief of such an origin ; 
and it may also be considered a little surprising 
that the Delawares, during a long course of bloody 
wars, should not have learned from their enemies 
some knowledge of an art so beneficial in a system 
of national defence. The tradition proceeds tojre- 
late that after the Delawares had dispersed these 
people, called the Alligewe or Alligeni, and ta- 
ken possession of the country, a great portion of 
their Nation concluded to remain in the conquer- 
ed country, and another part removed towards the 
Atlantic, and took possession of the country ex- 
tending from the Hudson River to the Potomac— 
The Nation was divided into several distinct tribes, 
each of which had an appropriate name. One took 
possession of the country between the sea coast 
and the mountains. Another tribe called the Mon- 
ceys, occupied the country extending from the 
Kittatinnunk or principal mountain, now called 
the Blue Mountain, to the heads of the Delaware 
and Susquehanna. This tribe had their principal 
settlement or council fire at a place called the 
Minisink on a River called by the Mingoes the Ma- 
kerisk-kiskon, being the same afterwards called Be 
-la-ware, or Delaware ; and a part of the same tribe 
nearly at the same time, settled at Wyoming. 



511ST0RY OF WYOMING. IS 

About the same period, (for tradition does not 
iufaeiently determine the precise time,) the Shaw- 
anese Indians inhabited the country now comp- 
Georgia and the Fioridas, and were a very power- 
ful and warlike nation ; but the surround ii 

' o 

having confederated against them, they were sub- 
dued and driven from that territory. In this u 
fortunate condition they sent messengers to the 
Mohegans, a nation who resided on the east side 
of the Hudson River, requesting their influence in 
procuring from the Delawares, permission for them 
to come and reside under their protection. 

At this time the Delawares were not upon the 
most friendly terms with the Mingoes or Six Na- 
tions, who inhabited the country in the neighbor- 
hood of the Lakes, and who, by virtue of their con- 
federated power, exercised a dictatorial spirit over 
the surrounding tribes. The Delawares were 
therefore anxious to accumulate a force against 
these powerful neighbors, and very willingly ac- 
cepted the proposition of the Shawanese. While 
these negociations were progressing the Shawanese 
had found a resting place near the mouth of the ri~ 
xer Wabasch where they were building a Town 9 
when their messengers returned, accompanied 
by a deputation from the Mohegans, who informed 
ihem of the success of their application to the Del* 
awares, and that a territory was already alloted 
fur their reception. Upon receiving this intelli- 
gence, a National Council was held to deliberate 
on the propriety of removing to the country of 
the Delaware. The assembly however were divi- 

B 



14 SKETCH OF THE 

detl, a part having resolved to remain and fortify 
themselves in their new Town ; and the remain- 
der, consisting principally of the Pickaway tribe; 
under their Chief, Gachgcavafschiqim, removed 
from the Ohio and formed a settlement in the forks 
of the Delaware. They however brought with 
them that artless and warlike spirit which had ren- 
dered them so disagreeable to their southern neigh- 
bors ; and as the character of a people cannot long 
be concealed, disturbances soon arose between 
them and that tribe of the Delawares who occupied 
the country lower down the river. These conflicts 
became at length so violent, that the Shawanese 
were compelled to leave the forks of the Delaware* 
and the whole tribe in that country removed to 
Wyoming Valley, which they found unoccupied^ 
as the M.onceys had been induced by the threaten- 
ing posture of affairs to concentrate their forces 
around their principal settlement at Minisinks. 

The Shawanese having arrived at Wyoming 
found themselves sole masters of the Valley, and 
as there appeared no enemy to annoy them in their 
new abode, they built a Town upon the west 
bank of the River, near the lower end of the Val* 
\c-j, upon a large plain which still bears the name 
of the Shawanese Flats. In this situation the 
Shawanese enjoyed many years of repose. The 
women cultivated corn upon the plains, and the 
xnen traversed the surrounding mountains in pur- 
suit of game. While these changes were taking 
place among the Indian tribes, the Europe-ins were 
forming settlements in various places along the At' 



HISTORY OF WYOMING. 15 

lantic coast, which they obtained sometimes by 
purchase, at other times by conquest, and although 
they were beginning to extend them into the interi- 
or, yet the resistance made by the Indians was in 
most cases feeble, as there were few instances in 
Which the different tribes united their forces for 
that purpose. There were however in the country 
of the Great Lakes, a people who conducted 
their wars upon a much more extensive system. 
These people were known by the general name of 
Mingoes. They consisted of the Onondagoes, Sen- 
ekas, Cayoogoes, Oneydas, Mohocks and Tusca- 
roras, and their confederacy acquired the appella- 
tion of " The Six Nations." They were a 
powerful warlike people, who held the surround- 
ing nations in subjection, and claimed a jurisdic- 
tion, extending from Connecticut River to the 
Ohio. They are described by a celebrated histo- 
rian*, as " A confederacy, who, by their union, 
" courage and military skill, had reduced a great 
" number of other Indian tribes and subdued po 
" territory more extensive than the whole kingdom 
"of France." This people claimed the country 
occupied by the Delawares and Shawanese and 
held these tribes or nations subject to their author 
iiv 5 a claim which, though seldom acknowledged 
and never defined, was not frequently disputed ; 
for savage, as well as civilized nations, frequently 
strengthen a weak cause, by the powerful force of 
military array. 

*Smoilet, 



m SKETCH OF THE 

After the arrival of William Perm, the Prof,:':. 
etor of Pennsylvania, he purchased of the Dela- 
ware Indians the country along that River below 
the Blue Mountains, supposing those tribes the. 
only legitimate owners ; but having been informed 

the claim and powers of the Six Nations, he al- 
so negociated a purchase of them. Some difficul- 
ty arising between the Proprietaries and the Dela- 
wares respecting the limits of these purchases, the 
Delawares refused to give up possession ; and as 
no accommodation appeared likely to take place, 
a messenger was sent from the Governor to the Six 
Nations, informing them of the circumstance and 
requesting them to send Deputies to meet in Coun 
cil at Philadelphia with instructions upon all sub- 
jects in dispute. 

Accordingly in the summer of 174$. the Chiefs 
and principal warriors of the Six Nations to the 
number of two hundred and thirty, repaired to 
Philadelphia where they met the Chiefs of 
the Delawares, and a General Council was opened 
in presence of the Officers of the Colonial Govern- 
ment and a large concourse of citizens, in the 
great Hall of the Council House. 

The Governor by means of an interpreter opened 
the Conference on the part of the Proprietaries in 
along talk, which set forth, that the Proprietaries 
of Pennsylvania had purchased the lands in the 
forks of Delaware several years before, of the Del 
aware tribes who then possessed them.— That they 
had afterwards received information that the same 
lauds were claimed by the Six Nation?,, and ap'ur- 



HISTORY Or WYOMING. ,1/ 

cHase was also made oilkcm. — That in both tjtiese 
purchases trie Proprietaries had paid the stipula 
ted price 5 but the Delaware Indians had never- 
theless refused to give up possession ; and as the 
Six Nations claimed authority over their country, 
it had been thought proper to hold a Council 
of all parties that justice might be done. The 
Chiefs of the Six Nations were then informed that 
as they bad on all occasions required the Govern- 
ment of Pennsylvania to remove any whites that 
settled upon their lands, so now the Government 
of Pennsylvania expected that the Six Nations 
would cause these Indians to remove from the 
lands which it had purchased. The Deeds from 
the Indians, and Drafts of the disputed lands were 
then produced, and the whole submitted to the 
consideration of the Council. After some delibe- 
ration among the different Chiefs, Connossatego, a 
venerable chieftain, arose in the name of all the 
Deputies and informed the Governor, " That they 
Ci saw the Delawares had been an unruly peo- 
" pie and were altogether in the wrong, and that 
"they had concluded to remove them.*' And 
addressing himself to the Delawares in a violent 
manner, he said, " You deserve to be taken by 
(i the hair of your heads and shaken 'till you re- 
44 cover your senses and become sober. We have 
*' seen a Deed signed by nine of your Chiefs above 
Ci fifty years ago for this very land. But how 
" came you to take upon yourselves to sell lands 
"at all ? We conquered you — we made women 
u of you i you know you are women, and can no 

B* 



1 8 SKETCH OF THE 

'•* more sell lands than women. Nor is it fit 
'" that you should have the power of selling lands* 
re you would abuse it. You have been fur- 
'Mils! ied with clothes, meat and drink by the good- 
••paid you for it, and now you want it again like 
* 4 children as you are. But what makes 3-011 sell 
* ; lands in the dark ? Did you ever tell us that 
* c you had sold this land ? Did we ever receive 
•• any par 1 ', even the value of a pipe-shank for it? 
" You have told us a Wind story that you sent a 
•• ro 1 to us to inform us of the sale, but he 

iie amongst us, nor have we ever heard 
rthirig abolit it. But we find you are none ci 
lood, you act a dishonest part not only in 
in other matters. Your ears are ever 
'"'-open to slanderous reports about your brethren. 
• ■ B'or all these reasons we charge you to remove 
fci instantly ; we don't give you liberty to think 
tout it. Yen are women ; take the advice of a 
•' \\\ and remove instantly. You may re* 

- turn to the other side of [he Delaware where you 
•* came from, but we do not know whether, con- 
'•• sideririg how you have demeaned yourselves, you 
•• will be permitted to live there, or whether you 
•• have not swallowed that land down your throats 
*• as Well as the lands on this side. We thereto! e 
'. you two places to go to. either to JVyo- 
tatdkhh You may go to either of 
«* these places^ and then we shall have you more 
**• under our eye, and shall see how you behave 
*\ Dont deliberate, but remove away and take this 
ilt of Waimjunu" 



HISTORY OF WYOMING. 1£ 

He then commanded them to leave the Council 
as he had business to do with the English. 

The influence cf the Six Nations was too power. 
ful to be disregarded, and the speech of Connassa- 
tego had its full effect ; the Delawares immediately 
left the disputed country ; some removed to Siia= 
mokin and some to Wyoming. 

On their arrival at Wyoming the Delaware^ 
found the valley in possession of the Shawanese ; 
but as these Indians acknowledged the authority 
of the Six Nations, and knew that the removal of 
the Delawares was in consequence of their order, 
resistance was thought to be inexpedient ; and the 
Delawares having taken quiet possession of a part 
of the Valley, built their Town of Maughwauwa- 
me on the east bank of the River upon the lower 
tlat below the mouth of a small stream, and nearly 
opposite the first Island above the mouth of Toby's 
Creek.* Such was the origin of the Indian Town 
of Wyoming. Soon after the arrival of the Dela- 
wares, and during the same season, (the summer of 
the year 1742,) a distinguished foreigner, Count 
Zinzendorf, of Saxony, arrived in the Valley on 
a religious mission to the Indians. This nobleman 
is believed to have been the first white person that 
ever visited Wyoming. He was the Revivor of 
the ancient Church of the United Brethren, and 
had given protection in his dominions to the perse- 
cuted Protestants who had emigrated from Mora- 
via, thence taking the name of Moravians, and 



"Just below the present Town of Wilkeshajre, 



W- SKETCH OF THE 

■who two years before had made their first settle- 
ment in Pennsylvania. 

Upon his arrival in America, Count Zinzendorf 
manifested a great anxiety to have the Gospel 
preached to the Indians ; and although he had 
neard much of the ferocity of the Shawanese, form- 
ed a resolution to visit them. With this view he 
repaired to Tujpehockm the residence of Conrad 
Weiser, a celebrated Indian interpreter, and In- 
dian agent for the Government, whom he wished 
to engage in the cause and to accompany him to the 
Shawanese Town. Weiser was too much occu- 
pied in business to go immediately to Wy naing, 
but he furnished the Curat with letters to a Mis- 
sionary of the name of Mack, and the latter, ac- 
companied by his wife who could speak the I 
language, p oceeded immediately wit!' Zinzendorf 
on the projected mission. 

The Shawanese appeared to be alarmed on the 
arrival of the strangers who pitched their terns on 
the banks of the River a little below the T rwn, 
and a Council of the Chiefs having assembled, the 
declared purpose of Zinzendorf was deliberately 
considered. To these unlettered children of the 
wilderness it appeared altogether improbable that 
a stranger should brave the dangers of a boisterous 
ocean three thousand miles broad, for the sole pur- 
pose of instructing them in the means of ootaimng 
happiness af'er death, and that too without requi- 
ring any compensation for his trouble and expense ; 
and as they had observed he anxiety of the white 
people to purchase lands of the Indians, they nat- 



HISTORY OF WYOMIXGJ. gt 

vi rally concluded that the real object of Zinzeti- 
dorf was either to procure from them the lands at 
Wyoming for his own uses, to search for hidden 
treasures, or to examine the country with a view 
to future conquest. It was accordingly resolved 
to assassinate him, and to do it privately lest the 
knowledge of the transaction should produce a 
war with the English who were settling the coun.- 
try below the mountains. 

Zinzendorf was alone in his tent, seated upon a 
bundle of dry weeds which composed his bed, and 
engaged in writing, when the assassins approached 
■ o execute their bloody commission. It was night, 
and the cool air of September had rendered a small 
fire necessary to his comfort and convenience. A 
curtain formed of a blanket and hung upon pins 
was the only guard to the entrance of his tent. 
The heat of his small fire had aroused a larg;e Rat' 
'le-snake which lay in the weeds not far from it .3 
and the reptile to enjoy it more effectually crawled 
slowly into the tent and passed over one of his 
legs undiscovered. Without, all was still and 
quiet except the gentle murmur of the river at the 
rapids about a mile below. At this moment the 
Indians softly approached the door of his tent, and 
.-lightly removing the curtain, contemplated the 
venerable man too deeply engaged in the subject 
of his thoughts to notice either their approach, or 
the snake which lay extended before him. At it 
sight like this even the heart of the savage shrunk 
from the idea of committing so horrid an act, and 
quitting the spot they hastily returned to the Towja 



££ SKETCH OF THE 

End informed their companions that the Great Spit* 
it protected the white man, for they had found 
him with no door but a blanket, and had seen a 
large Rattle-snake crawl over his legs without at- 
tempting to injure him.* This circumstance, to- 
gether with the arrival soon afterwards of Con- 
rod Weiser, procured Zinzendorf the friendship 
and confidence of the Indians, and probably con- 
tributed essentially towards inducing many of them 
at a subsequent period to embrace the Chris- 
tian Religion. The Count having spent twenty 
days at Wyoming, returned to Bethlehem, a Town 
then building by his christian brethren on the north 
bank of the Lehigh about eleven miles from its 
junction with the Delaware. 

The English settlements were about ilas time 
rapidly increasing in the Colony of Maryland, 
and difficulties arising with the Indians in that 
quarter, a great number cf the tribe called the 
Nayiticokcs, who inhabited the eastern shore of the 
Chesapeak Bay, removed ta Wyoming in May 

1748 with their chief Sachem called White.- 

Finding the pricipal part of the Valley in possess- 
ion of the Shawanese and Delawares, the Nanti- 
cokes built their Town at the lower end of the Yal- 



*This circumstance is not published in ihe 
Count's memoirs, lest, as he states, the brethren 
should think the conversion of a part of the Shaw- 
anese was attributable to their superstition. The 
author received the narrative from a companion of 
Zinzendorf who afterwards accompanied hhn tc 
Wyoming.; 



HISTORY OF WYOMING. 23 

ley on the east bank of the river just above the 
mouth of a small creek still called tfc Nanticoke 
Creek." About this time Colonel Cornwall is, 
who had been appointed Governor of Nova Scotia,, 
arrived in that Colony and laid the foundation of 
the Town of Halifax.* While the French, whose 
settlements had become extensive in North Amer- 
ica, began to manifest great alarm at the enereas- 
ing power of the British Colonies, and with a view 
to check their growth and to provide for events 
in case of hostilities, they endeavored to engage in 
their interest the different Indian tribes that v. ere 

scattered along the waters of the great Lakes- 

The powerful influence possessed by the Six Na- 
tions over the other aborigines, and their contigu- 
ity to the French Colonies, rendered an alliance 
with them particularly desirable on the part of the 
French, and a good understanding was according- 
ly effected by means which seldom fail of success, 
A war it is true had not actually broken out be- 
tween the English and French, but circumstances 
gave such strong indications of an approaching rup- 
ture, that the colonies of the respective nations be- 
gan to apprehend such ari event, and the Indians 
who were in the French interest attempted also to 
bring over to their views those tribes which still re- 
mained friendly to the English, or to proyoke hos- 
tilities between them. The Shawanese upon the 
Ohio were among the first to form an alliance with 
the French, and a3 that portion 01 their tribe which 

*Smollet» 



24 SKETCH OF THE 

had removed to Wyoming still retained their h.i 
tred to the English, a formal proposition was made 
to them to leave Wyoming and rejoin their breth* 
ten on the Ohio. To this proposition one difficulty 
offered itself : a portion of the Shawanese had em- 
braced the Christian religion, and being attached to 
the Moravian Church, were determined to remain 
on the Susquehanna. An event however soon 
transpired which caused the removal of the Shawa- 
nese, and however trifling in its origin, produced 
an efFect more powerful than the wishes of their 
Ohio brethren and the threats of the Six Nations. 
Disturbances had occasionally arisen between the 
Shawanese and the Delawares at Wyoming, and 
their mutual animosity had become so great as to 
break out into hostilities upon the least provoca- 
tion. While the warriors of the Delawares were 
engaged upon the mountains in a hunting expedi- 
?ion, a number of Squaws, or female Indians, from 
Maughwauwame, were gathering wild fruits along 
the margin of the river below the Town, where they 
found a number of Shawanese Squaws and their 
children who had crossed the river in their canoes 
upon the same business. A child belonging to 
the Shawanese having taken a large Grasshopper, a 
quarrel arose among the children for the possession 
of it in which their mothers soon took a part, and 
as the Delaware Squaws contended that the Shaw- 
anese had no privileges upon that side of the river 
the quarrel soon became general, but the Delawares 
being the most numerous, soon drove the Shaw- 
anese to their canoes, and to their own bank ^ a few 



HISTORY OF WYOMING. 25 

having been killed on bo(h sides. Upon the return 
of the. warriors both tribes prepared for battle to 
revenge the wrongs which they considered their 
wives had sustained. 

The Shawanese upon crossing the river found 
the Ddawares ready to receive them and oppose 
their landing. A dreadful conflict took place be 
tween the Shawanese in their canoes and the Data- 
wares on the bank. At length after great numbers 
bad been killed, the Shawanese effected a landing 
and a battle took place about a mile below Maugh- 
wauwame, in which many hundred warriors are 
said to have been killed on both sides ; but the 
Shawanese were so much weakened in landing that 
they were not able to sustain the conflict, and al- 
ter the loss of about half their tribe t5ie remainder 
-were forced to flee to their own side of the river : 
shortly after which, they abandoned their Town 
and removed to the Ohio. The Delawarcs were 
now masters of Wyoming Valley, and the lame of 
their triumph which was supposed to have driven 
The Shawanese to the West, tended very much to 
increase their numbers by calling to their settle- 
ment many of those unfriendly Indians near the 
Delaware who remained on good terms with their 
Christian neighbors. 

As the conduct of the French and Indians as- 
sumed a more hostile appearance, the Government 
of Pennsylvania established a Fort* on the eastern 



*This Fort is said to have been built by Dr. 
Franklin in person. 

C 



26 SKETCH OF THE 

bank of the Lehigh River above the blue mountains, 
which received the name of Fort Allen, in honor 
of a gentleman then forming a settlement below the 
mountain on the bank of the same river. Opposite 
to this fort, and a small distance up the Mahoning 
Creek which falls into the Lehigh at this place, 
fhe United Brethren from Bethlehem about the 
tame time built a Town, which they called 
44 Gnuddenhuttm," (huts of mercy,) and which 
was principally intended for the protection and res- 
idence of the Indians who had become members of 
their Society. These Indians were a part of the 
Delawares, and a constant intercourse was kept up 
between Gnaddenhutten and Wyoming, by means 
of a warriors' path which led across the mountains. 
The hostile Indians from the north were occasion- 
ally discovered in parties lurking about the settle- 
ments of the Christian Indians, and some treach- 
erous person haying murdered Tadame, the Chief 
of the Delawares at Wyoming, a General Council 
was assembled and Tadeuscund, sometimes call- 
ed Tedyuscung\ a chieftain residing at Gnadden- 
hutten, was proclaimed Chief Sachem, who soon af- 
ter removed to Wyoming, at that time the princi- 
pal settlement of the Delawares. Not long after 
this event a body of hostile Indians among whom 
were supposed to be many whites disguised as In- 
dians, surprised the Garrison of Fort Allen while 
mcautiously skating upon the ice of the Lehigh at 
the mouth of Mahoning Creek, and having mur- 
dered most of them, the Fort and the Town of 
Gnaddenhutten fell a prey to the victors. The- 



HISTORY OF WYOMING. £7 

Town was attacked in the night and set on fire $ 
many of the inhabitants perished in the flames, 
while others were carried away captives. Those 
who escaped fled to Wyoming. 

Such was the posture of affairs in IT 54 when all 
hopes of a reconciliation between the Courts of Ver- 
sailles and St. James being at an end, M. tie Con- 
trqeeur, Commander of the French forces in the. 
West, arrived at the Forks of the Monongahela 
with a thousand men and eighteen pieces of cannon, 
in three hundred canoes from Venango, (a Fort 
which the French had built upon the bank of the 
Ohio,) and took by surprise a British Fort which 
the Virginians had built at that place** 

Orders were now received from England by the 
Governors of the several Colonies, directing them 
to form a political confederacy for their mutual de- 
fence, and to repel force by force 4 It was also 
enjoined upon them to conciliate as much as possi- 
ble the Indians, and particularly the Six Nations, 
being directed 4; At so critical a juncture to put 
the latter upon their guard against any attempts 
which might be made to withdraw them from his 
Majesty's interests." A General Congress was ac • 
cprdi ngly appointed to be held at Albany, to which 
place the Indian tribes were invited, and where 
Commissioners attended from the British settle- 
ments. At this Congress a number of Indian tribes 
assembled, and having entered into new engage- 
ments to cultivate peace and friendship with the 



s'mollet jSmoliet. 



2S sketch or THE 

English, made several very extensive sales of lands 
to the agents of the different Governments. 

The Nanticokes, who still remained at Wyo- 
] fiing. and who retained too much animosity against 
the English to form an alliance with them, removed 
from the Valley dining the year 1755 and began a 
settlement at Chemunk further up the river. A 
{■art of them also migrated to Chenenk where they 
were under the more immediate protection of the 
Six Nations. 

Hostilities havingnow actually commenced along 
the whole frontier of the British Colonies; a party 
of Indians from the Six Nations fell upon the set- 
tlement at Shamokin,* murdered fourteen whites 
and made some prisoners, and having plundered 
a few farms returned to their own territories. Du- 
ring the same season the Nanticokes, who, having 
established themselves at Chenenk and being un- 
willing that the bones of their brethren remaining 
in Maryland should be exposed to the operations 
of English agriculture, sent a deputation from their 
tribe who removed them from the place of their de- 
posit, and conveyed them to Chenenk Where they 
were interred with all the rites and ceremonies of 
savage sepulture. The French continued their un- 
remitted exertions to detach the Delawares from 
die interests of the English, and to strengthen 
their works on the northern and western frontiers, 
and built a fort which they called Du Quesne, at 



y A settlement ai the confluence of the W. & E: 
branches of the Susquehanna- 



HISTORY OF WYOMING. 29 

the forks of the Ohio. Gen. Braddock was sent 
with an armed force consisting of British Regular*; 
and American Militia to drive them from that 
quarter and to occupy the station ; but not haying 
taken the necessary precautions, on his march 
against an ambuscade he was attacked on the banks 
of the Monongahela in the month of July about ten 
miles from the fort, and defeated with the loss of 
his own life and about seven hundred men. * This 
success added to that of M. de Contraceur produ- 
ced such calamitous effects upon the English cause, 
and added so much lustre to ihe French arms, that 
many of the Indian tribes, including the Delawares 
who had "hitherto remained faithful to the British 
Colonies, now revolted and joined their brethren 
in the service of the French. In alluding to the 
means which had been used to produce this effect. 
Governor Morris of Pennsylvania, in his address 
to the Assembly in November, said " That the 
French had gained to their interest the Dela- 
ware and Shawanese Indians under the ensnaring 
pretence of restoring to them their country, "t 

The evil effects resulting from the hostility of 
the Indian tribes begun to be severely felt by the 
British Government, and the Proprietaries of Penn- 
sylvania were requested to define explicitly their 
purchases of the Indians, and to obtain if possible 
a renewal of their friendship with the Colonies.-— 
Instructions to this effect were accordingly des- 



*Smollefc 

:See votes of Assembly, Vol. 4. 

C* 



30 SKETCH OF THE 

patched to the Governor, and messengers were 
sort to invite the Indians to a General Conference 
atEaston,* which was held in July 5 but as the at- 
tendance on the part of the Indians was not gener- 
al, and many subjects of difference arising, the 
Conference was dissolved, and the subjects under 
consideration referred to a General Council to be 
he'd at the same place in the autumn. Accord- 
ingly on the eighth day of November 1756, the 
different Indian tribes, represented by their Chiefs 
and principal Warriors, met Governor Dennie at 
Easton where the Council was opened in the fol- 
lowing order. 4i At three o'clock the Governor 
inarched from his lodgings to the place of Confer- 
ence guarded by a party of the royal Americans in 
front and on the : flanks— and a detachment of CoL 
Weiser's Provincials in sub-divisions in the rear, 
■•■•. ith col ars Hying, drams beating, and music play- 
; which order was always observed in going to 
place of Conference.";!; 
Tedeuscund, who had been accompanied from 
Wyoming by most of bis principal Warriors, per- 
formed the part of chief speaker on this occasion 
for ail the tribes present, as he had done at the 
preceding conferences. He is represented to have 
supported the rights and claims of the Indians in a 

■ :: "A Town wjileh hud been recently built at th** 
. ifiuence of the Lehigh and Delaware Rivers. 

>31inutes of Conference on file, 



HISTORY OF WYOMING. 

dignified and spirited manner.* Tadeuscund, in 
his talk before the Council, said in substance as 
follows: — 4i There are many reasons why the In- 
dians have ceased to be the friends of the English. 
They had never been satisfied with the conduct of 
the English after the treaty of 1737, when their Fa- 
thers, Tishekunk and Nittimus, sold them the land?* 
upon the Delaware: that although the rights of the 
purchase were to extend " as far as a man can go 
in a day and a half" from Neshamony Creek, yet 
the man who was appointed to go over the ground, 
did not walk, but ran, and it was also expected he 
would go along the bank of the river, which he did 
not, but went in a straight line 5 and because they 
had been unwilling to give up the land to the Eng- 
lish as far as the walk extended, the Governor who 
then had the command in Pennsylvania, sent for 
their cousins the Six Nations, who had always been 
hard masters to them, to come down and drive 
them from the land. — That when the Six Nations 
did come down, they met them at a great treaty 
held at the Governor's house in Philadelphia in 
1742 with the view of explaining why they did not 
give up the land, but the English made so many 
presents to the Six Nations, that they would hear 



*Major Parsons, who acted as Secretary to the 
Conference, describes Tadeuscund as "a lusty 
raw-boned man, haughty and very desirous of res- 
pect and command," and adds, that fci he was 
born some where near Trenton, and is now (1756) 
fifty years old-" See Minutes of Conference on 
uie in Secretary's Office, Harrisburg. 



C2 SKETCH OF THE 

no explanation from the Delawares *, and the Chief 
of the Council of the Six Nations (Conassatego,) 
abused them and called them women. The Six 
Nations had however, given to them and the Sha- 
wanese the country upon the Juniatta for a hunt- 
ing ground, and had so informed the Governor ; — 
but notwithstanding this the latter permitted the 
whites to go and settle upon those lands. — That 
two years before the Governor had been to Albany 
to buy more of the lands of the Six Nations and had 
described their purchase by points of compass, which 
they did not understand, including not only the 
Juniatta but also the West Branch of the Susque- 
hanna, which the Indians did not intend to sell ; and 
when all these things were known they declared they 
would no longer be friends to the English who were 
trying to get all their country from them. " 

He assured the Council that they were glad to 
meet their old friends, the English, to smoke the 
pipe of peace with them, and hoped that justice 
would be done to them for all the injuries which 
they had received. This Conference continued 
nine days during which time all matters of differ- 
ence were considered, and the Shawanese and Del- 
awares, the two principal tribes, became recon- 
ciled to the English with whom they concluded a 
treaty of peace. 

The object of the Pennsylvania Government 
however, was not confined to the pacification 
merely of the Delawares and Shawanese : for 
knowing as the English well did the power and in- 
fluence of the Six Nations, this was considered only 



HISTORY OE WYOMING. $3 

as a preparatory step towards forming a treaty with 
them also. To the formation of such a treaty ad* 
ditional difficulties were now created by some re- 
cent successes of the French near the Lakes. The 
Marquis de Montcalm with a body of thirteen hun- 
dred regular troops, seventeen hundred Canadi- 
ans, and a large body of Indian auxiliaries, laid 
siege to Oswego, a Fort built by the British at the 
mouth of the Onandago River on the shore of Lake 
Ontario, and the Garrison, consisting of fourteen 
hundred men, surrendered themselves prisoners 
of war on the thirteenth of August, their Com- 
mander, the brave Col. Mercer, having been kill- 
ed by a Cannon-ball.* No means however were 
neglected to regain the friendship of the Six Na- 
tions, and presents having been liberally distribu- 
ted amongst them, a Grand Council of all the In- 
dian tribes was held by special invitation at Eas.- 
ion in October 1758. At this treaty there were 
present Chiefs and Deputies from the Mohawks, 
Oneidas, Onondagoes, Cayugas, Senecas, Tusca- 
roros, Nanticokes, Canoys, Tuteloes, Chugnues, 
Delawares, Unamies, Minisinks, Mohicons, Wap- 
pingers and Shawanese, amounting in the whole to 
about five hundred. The Conferences, on the part 
of the English were managed by the Governors of 
Pennsylvania and New Jersey accompanied by 
Sir William Johnson as Deputy for Indian affairs, 
four members of the Council of Pennsylvania, Six 
members of Assembly, twe agents for the Province 

*8moI!et,, 



34 SKETCH OF THE 

of New Jersey and a great number of Planters and 
citizens of Philadelphia. 

The formalities cfthe Conference having been 
settled in a manner nearly similar to those of 1756, 
the A&sembly entered upon the consideration of 
the great objects which had called them together. 
The Indians generally were loud in their com- 
plaints against the English for having made en- 
croachments upon their lands, and declared that 
this was the cause which had provoked them to hos- 
tilities. Tadeuscund, who acted as ambassador 
for most of the tribes, and who had been princi- 
pally instrumental in forming the Assembly, ex- 
plained to the tribes the general object of the meet- 
ing and the principles upon which he, as their rep- 
resentative, had made overtures of peace. The 
Chief of one of the Six Nations on the other hand 
expressed in strong language his resentment against 
the British Colonists who had killed and imprison- 
ed some of his tribe, and he as well as other Chiefs 
of those Nations took great umbrage at the impor- 
tance assumed by Tadeuscund whom, as one of 
the Delawares, they considered in some degree sub- 
ject to their authority. Tadeuscund however sup* 
ported the high station which he held, with dignity 
and firmness, and the different Indian tribes at 
length became reconciled to each other. The Con- 
ference having; continued eighteen davs, and all 
causes of misunderstanding between the English 
and the Indians being removed, a general peace 
was concluded on the twenty sixth day of October. 
At this treaty the boundaries of the different pur- 



HISTORY OF WYOMING. ol> 

chases made from the Indians were more particu- 
larly described, and they received an additional 
compensation for their lands consisting of knives, 
hats, caps, looking-glasses, tobacco-boxes, shears, 
gun-locks, combs, clothes, shoes, stockings, blan- 
kets and several suits of laced clothes for their 
Chieftains ; and when the business of the treaty 
was completed, the stores of rum were opened and 
distributed to the Indians, who soon exhibited 
a scene of brutal intoxication.*' 

Peace with the Indians continued until the Year 
1763, when a war again broke out between the 
English and the Indians about the same time that 
peace was concluded between the English and 
French, and notwithstanding the pacification be* 
tween those nations hostilities between their Colo* 
nies and the Indian tribes continued until the Year 
1765. 

Having thus brought down the Indian History 
of Wyoming from the earliest accounts to the time 
of the first settlements commenced by the Whites 
m the Valley, we shall next take a view of the 
causes which led to those settlements and the con- 
troversy which they produced between the Gov- 
ernments of Pennsylvania and Connecticut* 



'' Minutes of Conference. — Smollet. 



56 SKETCH OF THE 

CHAPTER II. 

Origin of the English claim to North Amerltfr-* 
Plymouth Company formed — Their Grant in- 
cluded Wyoming — Proprietors of Connecticut 
■purchase part of the Plymouth Grant — Connec- 
ticut Charter obtained — New York first settled 
by the Butch — Conquered by the English — Penn- 
sylvania Charter obtained — Indian T reedy at 
Albany — Susquehanna Company formed, and 
Wyoming purchased of the Indians — Attempt to 
•settle Wyoming and Coshutunk — Peace with the 
Indians'— First settlement of Wyoming — Legal 
opinions concerning the different claims to Wyo- 
ming — Murder of Tadeuscund — Destruction of 
the Wyoming Settlements by the Savages — -Mi- 
litia of Pennsylvania sent to the relief of Wy- 
oming — Christian Indians settle at Wyedusing 
— Indian Treaty at Fort Stamvix — Wyoming 
purchased by the Proprietaries of Pennsylvania 
— Settlements resumed at Wyoming, and a sep- 
erate Colony formed there — Settlements commen- 
ced at TJ yon ting under the Proprietaries of Penn- 
sylvania — Settlers at Wyoming made prisoners 
by the Pennsylvanians — Settlement re-establish- 
ed^ and Fort Durkee built — Attempt to form an 
amicable settlement of the controversy— Expedi- 
tion under Col. Francis— Surrender of Fort 
Durkee — Wyoming plundered by Ogdcn's for- 
ces — Ogclen's Block-house taken by the Connec- 
ticut Settlers — Governor Penn applies to Gener- 
al Page for assistance — Fort Durkee again taken 
by the Pennsylvania Troops— -Fort Durkee re- 
captured by Troops under Capt. Stewart. 

IN the preceding Chapter, sketches of Histo- 
ry are given which may be familiar to almost every 
reader, and which, at the first view, may not ap- 
pear necessarily connected with the History of 



HISTORY OF WYOMING. 3* 

Wyoming. It has been done that the reader 
might, by having them presented to view, discov- 
er the influence and effect which these transactions 
have had upon the measures and conduct of the 
different Indian Tribes that successively inhabited 
Wyoming Valley. In this and the following Chap- 
ters extracts will be made in a similar manner, 
that such part of the subject as is connected with 
the History of other times, and of oilier Slates, 
may be more readily understood. 

After the discovery of America, the different 
nations of Europe severally claimed such parts of 
the American Continent as had been discovered 
by their respective subjects ; and all that part of 
North America from Florida to the latitude of 58° 
having been discovered by Sebastian Cabot in 1497", 
was claimed by the English Government. The 
discovery by Cabot appears to have been confined 
principally to the general figure and position of 
the coast, and not to have extended to the various 
bays and rivers with which it is indented, and it 
does not appear that the English had any knowl- 
edge of those particulars for more than one hundred 
years after the first discovery of the country. 

When a portion of the people of England began 
to manifest a design of forming settlements in 
America and to take measures for that purpose, it 
became necessary, in order to secure the different 
adventurers in their respective rights, that Char- 
ters from the Government should be obtained, defi- 
ning as nearly as possible the territorial limits of 
each Colony or Province. In 1606 two companies 

D 



38 SKETCH OF THE 

were formed in England, with a view of forming 
settlements and opening a trade with America.—- 
One of them obtained a Charter the same year for 
the Southern part of the English claims which they 
called " Virginia," where they had commenced 
some small settlements. The other Company con- 
tinued to trade with the Indians, but did not ob- 
tain their Charter until 1620. On the third day 
of March of that year, King James I. granted 
them Letters Patent under the great seal of Eng- 
land, Incorporating the Duke of Lenox, the Mar- 
quises of Buckingham and Hamilton, the Earls of 
Arundel and Warwick, and others, to the number 
of forty Noblemen, Knights and Gentlemen, by 
the name of " T lie Councils established at Plym- 
outh in the County of Devon for the Planting, Ru- 
ling and Governing of New England in Ameri- 
ca."* The powers of this Corporation were to be 
exercised in England, where it was established ; 
but its laws and regulations were to extend to 
u the ruling and governing of New England." 
There was, by the same Charter, granted to them 
and their assigns all " That part of America lying 
64 and being in breadth from the forty degrees of 
" the said Northerly latitude from the Equinoctial 
* ; lire to forty eight degrees of the said Northerly 
4i latitude inclusively, and in length of and within 
<; all the breadth aforesaid throughout the main 
44 land from sea to sea," &c, concluding with the 
following condition: •* Provided thai any of the said 

*Trambulh 



HISTORY OF WYOMING. 39 

u premises by said Letters Patent intended and 
" meant to be granted were not then actually pos- 
*' sessed or inhabited by any other Christian Prince 
w or State, or within the bounds, limits or terri- 
" tories of the Southern Colonies then before gran- 
44 ted by our said dear Father to be planted by his 
" loving subjects in the Southern part.-'* 

This was the General Charter of New England, 
which name was given to the country by the Char- 
ter. Parts of the territory described by it were af- 
terwards sold out to other companies, and by means 
of such division the several New England States 
have been formed ; but as the powers of Legisla- 
tion were by this Charter to be exercised in Eng- 
land, the different Colonies found it necessary to 
obtain new Charters to vest in them the various 
rights and powers necessary for their prosperity. 

The contention which so long subsisted between 
the citizens of Connecticut and Pennsylvania, and 
which caused so much blood to be spilled at Wyo- 
ming, originated in an interference of the territori- 
al claims of the respective parties. These claims 
were founded in the Charters granted to their res- 
pective Governments. It therefore becomes ne- 
cessary, in order to have a full understanding of 
the rights of the different parties, to examine the 
particulars of their claims, and the manner in 
which their Charter boundaries were ascertained. 
We have already seen that in the original Charter 
of New England, the Southern boundary of the 

*Trumbull . 



40 SKETCH OE TfiJS 

territory granted to the Plymouth Company wa? 
fixed at the fortieth degree of north latitude. In 
1 he year 1628 the Plymouth Company transferred 
to Sir Henry Roswell and others that part of their 
territory which now forms the State of Massachu- 
setts. In 1630 the same Company sold to the 
Karl of Warwick, their President, that part now 
composing the State of Connecticut with the same 
width of territory extending from sea to sea, mean- 
ing at that time from the Atlantic to the Pacific 
Ocean. The Earl of Warwick, by Deed dated the 
19th of March 1631 conveyed to Lords Jay and 
Seal, Lord Brook, and others, to the number of 
twelve, the same territory which the Company had 
conveyed to him, in which Deed the Western lint- 
its are described in the following singular phrase- 
ology of those times: " and also all and singular 
44 the lands and hereditaments whatsoever, lying 
44 and being within the lands aforesaid North and 
44 South, iu latitude and breadth— -and in length 
"and in longitude of, and within all the breadth 
"aforesaid throughout the main land therefrom 
"the Western Ocean to the South Sea."* Two 
years afterwards, in the month of September 1633, 
William Holmes at the head of a small company 
took possession under this Grant, and made the first 
settlement in the Colony on the banks of the Con- 
necticut, just below the mouth of Windsor River $ 
and in the month of November 1635 a party of men 
was sent by Governor Winthrop from Boston, who 

^Trumbull 



HISTORY OF WYOMING. 41 

t®ok possession of the mouth of Connecticut River, 
and erected a Fort there, which they called Say- 
brook, in honor of the principal Proprietor.* Mr- 
John Winthrop acted as Governor of the new Colo- 
ny under the direction of the Proprietors, who re- 
mained in England ;• and as the settlements in- 
creased in population it was found extremely ne- 
cessary that the power of making laws should rest 
in the Colony. Accordingly a negociation was 
opened between the inhabitants of the Colony on 
one side, and the Proprietors, through their agent 
George Fenwick Esq. who commanded Fort Say- 
brook, on the other, which resulted in a cession of 
the title of the Proprietors to the inhabitants on the 
5th of December 1644. 

From this time the people of Connecticut were 
governed by their own law* ; but as the original 
power of legislation was by the Charter to be exer- 
cised at " Plymouth in the County of Devon, "the 
right of the General Court to exercise the same in 
the Colony, became very questionable. A civil 
war however raged in England, and the people of 
Connecticut were more deeply concerned in rela- 
tion to the manner of administering their Govern- 
ment, than anxious respecting its legality. Upon 
the restoration of the Monarchy under Charles II. 
it was very naturally concluded that these powers 
would be more critically examined, as a state of 
peace would give the Government leisure to en- 
quire into the affairs of the Colonies ; and it was 



^Trumbull. 



42 SKETCH OF THE 

thought proper to apply to the King for a specvfU 
Charter granting them the privilege of self Govern- 
ment. Accordingly the Legislative body (called 
the General Court,) which met at Hartford in 
May 1644, drew up a petition to his Majesty re* 
questing in a formal manner to be taken under the 
royal protection, and that he would be pleased to 
grant them a Charter of privileges which should in- 
clude and establish the original Constitution of 
1 rw eminent which had been adopted at a general 
meeting of all the free planters of the Colony con- 
vened at Hartford on the 14th of January 1659, a 
copy of which accompanied the petition. Mr- 
John Winthrop, at that time Governor of the Colo- 
ny, was sent to England to lay this petition before 
the King, and on the 23d of April 1662, a Char- 
ier was granted to the Colony agreeably to the 
prayer of the petition. This Charter included 
;i All that part of our dominions in New England 
*' in America, bounded on the East by Naragansett 
* * Bay, where the said River falleth into the Sea — * 
-• and on the North by the line of the Massachu- 

v Beits plantation — on the South by the Sea, and 
■•' in longitude as the line of the Massachusetts Col 

* ony, running from East to West— (that is to 
* ; say) from the Naragansett Bay on the East to 
- ; the South Sea on the West part." 

These several instruments taken together give 
us a full view of the territorial limits of Connecti- 
cut. It will be observed that in the Connecticut 
Charter, the southern boundary is said to be " the 

Sfc% ,? but as the Sea. or rather Long Island Sound, 



HISTORY OF WYOMING. 4& 

extends in a south-westerly direction, the place 
of the south-west corner of the Colony was not spe- 
cifically defined. In order therefore to ascertain 
that point, we must resort to the Deed of the Col- 
ony from the Earl of Warwick, in which the terri- 
tory included is said to be " All that part of New 
;; England in America which lies and extends it- 
" self from a River there called Naragansett River, 
4 ; the space of forty leagues upon a straight line 
*'near the shore towards the south-west as the 
mi coast lieth towards Virginia, accounting three 
''" English miles to the league," &c. The grant to 
ihe Plymouth Company having extended South to 
the fortieth degree of North latitude, they had 
therefore an undoubted right to transfer their 
claims to that degree, and if the distance mention- 
ed in the Deed from the Earl of Warwick begin- 
ning at the ' 4 Naragansett Bay where the said 
River falleth into the Sea," and measuring one 
hundred and twenty English miles, " in a straight 
line as the coast lieth towards Virginia," would 
not extend beyond the fortieth degree of North 
latitude, then the point found by such measure- 
ment would be the south-west corner of Connecti- 
cut, and the territory included would be all the 
country from that point to the " line of the Massa- 
chusetts plantation," and " from the Naragansett 
Bay on the East, to the South Sea on the West 
part." It so happens that a distance of one hun- 
dred and twenty miles measured in a direet line 
along the coast fr »m Naragansett Bay towards 
Virginia will terminate very nearly on the fortieth 



44 SKETCH OE THE 

degree of North latitude, but as this measurement 
was not made at the time various difficulties oc- 
curred in establishing the south-western boundary 
of the Colony. Those difficulties originated in the 
following circumstances. 

In the year 1608, Capt. Henry Hudson, under 
a commission from King James I. of England, sail- 
ed in the employment of several London merchants 
in quest of a north-west passage to India, and ha- 
ving discovered Long Island Sound and the mouth 
of a large river opening into a spacious bay, he 
sailed into the same and having proceeded up the 
river about one hundred miles with his ship, he 
came to anchor opposite the place where the city 
now stands which bears his name. He spent sev- 
eral days trading with the Indians, and having giv- 
en his own name to the river, returned into the 
Atlantic. Two years afterwards he made a second 
voyage in the employment of several merchants of 
Holland to whom he subsequently sold his right to 
the countries which he had discovered. 

The Amsterdam West India Company having 
purchased Hudson's claim called the country the 
" New Netherlands," and built a Town on an 
Island at the mouth of the river which they called 
" New Amsterdam." In 1614 the same Compa- 
ny sent part of their Colony up the river where they 
built a Town on the western bank which they call- 
ed " Orange." These two Towns were the first 
which were built by the subjects of any European 
nation within the .present limits of the United 
states. Thus the whole country for a distance of 



HISTORY Of WYOMING. 45 

mie hundred and sixty miles along the Hudson 
was in the possession of the Dutch and consequent- 
ly came within the proviso mentioned in the Char- 
ter to the Plymouth Company which excepted such 
of the granted premises as were " then actually 
possessed or inhabited by any other Christian 
Prince or State," for the Dutch had been in the oc- 
cupancy of the country six years previous to the 
date of the Company's Charter. 

In the year 1664 on the 12th day of March King 
Charles II. granted a patent to his brother the 
Duke of York and Albany of a large tract of coun- 
try in America including Long Island, the territo- 
ry of the New Netherlands and all the country 
westward to the Delaware Bay : his Majesty ha- 
ring declared that the Dutch had no right to coun- 
tries first discovered by an Englishman. A war 
had broken out with the Dutch, and the Duke con- 
sidered it a proper time to take possession of his 
territories. A fleet was accordingly fitted out un- 
der the command of Sir Robert Carr and Colonel 
Nichols, which proceeded to Boston, and having 
procured reinforcements from the Colonies ap- 
peared before the city of New Amsterdam which 
surrendered to the English on the 27th of Augu st 
1664, and the whole of the New Netherlands hav- 
ing followed the example of the capital, the two 
principal Towns received the names which formed 
the principal titles of their new proprietor: New 
Amsterdam taking the name of New York, and 
Orange that of Albany. The Dutch Colony of the 
New Netherlands, having by these events become 



46 SKETCH OF THE 

the English Province of New York, it became ne- 
cessary that the boundaries between that Province 
and the New England Plantations should be defin- 
itively settled. The Dutch, during the continu- 
ance of their Government, had extended their set- 
tlements as far eastward along the coast as possi- 
ble, and when the first planters of the Connecti- 
cut Colony arrived, they found a company of the 
Dutch buildingaFort on the banks of Connecticut 
River where Hartford now stands, in which they 
had already placed two pieces of cannon.* 

They were forced to abandon the attempt to form 
settlements on Connecticut River, and were even- 
tually driven back to their permanent settlements 
which then extended no farther than the neighbor- 
hood of West Chester ; but hostilities were for 
many years kept up between them and the New 
England planters, and no definitive boundaries 
were ever agreed upon between them, which was 
of any longer duration than the continuance of 
peace and good understanding between the neigh- 
bouring planters of the respective Colonies. 

To prevent the continuance of these hostilities, 
Commissioners were appointed on behalf of the 
Colony of Connecticut to confer with Col. Dungan, 
then Governor of tlie Province under his Grace the 
Duke of York, concerning the territorial limits of 
their respective Governments ; and they were au- 
thorised to fix and determine the boundary line 
between the Colony of Connecticut and the Proy- 

*Trumbulh 



HISTORY OF WYOMING. 47 

mce of New York. Accordingly on the 28th of 
November 1683, it was mutually agreed " That 
the line should begin at Byram River where it 
falleth into the Sound at a point called Lyons' 
Point: — to go as the said River runneth to the 
place where the common road or wading place over 
said river is. And from the said road or wading 
place, to go North, north-west into the country 
as far as will be eight English miles from the afore- 
said Lyons' Point, and that a line of twelve miles 
being measured from the said Lyon's Point accor- 
ding to the line or general courses of the Sound 
Eastward* Where the. said twelve miles endeth 
another line shall be run from the Sound eight 
miles into the country North, north-west, and also 
that a fourth line be run, (that is to say) from the 
northernmost end of the eight miles line being the 
third mentioned line (which is to be twelve miles 
in length) a line parallel to Hudson's River, in eve- 
ry place twenty miles distant from Hudson's River 
shall be the bounds there between the said territo- 
ry or Province of New York and the said Colony 
of Connecticut as far as Connecticut Colony doth 
extend northwards that is to the South line of the 
Massachusetts Colony. Only it is provided that 
in case the line from Byram's Brook's mouth North 
north-west eight miles and the line that is then to 
run twelve miles to the end of the third foremen- 
tioned line of eight miles do diminish or take away 
land within twenty miles of Hudson's River, that 
then so much as inland diminished of twenty miles 
of Hudson's River thereby shall be added out of 



48 SKETCH OF THE 

Connecticut bounds unto the line aforementioned 
parallel to Hudson's River and twenty miles dis- 
tant from it, the addition to be made the whole 
length of the said parallel line, and in such breadth 
as will make up quantity for quantity what shall be 
diminished as aforesaid. " 

This agreement was ratified on the part of Con- 
necticut by the General Assembly in May 1684, 
and the lines having been run, were approved by 
Governors Dungan and Treat of the two Colonies, 
Feb. 24th. 1685.* 

In this agreement which finally settled the boun- 
daries between Connecticut and New York,* noth- 
ing is said of the Charter limits of the Two Govern- 
ments. The Duke's Charter included most of the 
present State of Connecticut, a great part of Mas- 
sachusetts, a part of New Hampshire, the whole 
of Vermont, and the whole of New Jersey. The 
Connecticut Charter which was two years older 
than the Dukes, extended through the State of 
New York westward to the Pacific Ocean, but in 
the purchase from the Plymouth Company on which 
the Charter was founded, the Dutch settlements 
were excepted, and in consequence of this excep- 
tion the Duke held the territories bounded by the 
line established by this agreement. 

Having thus taken a full view of the Charter lim- 
its of Connecticut it is proper that we now consid- 
er those of Pennsylvania. On the 4th of March 
1681, King Charles II. granted a Charter to 

*Trnmbull. 



HISTORY OP WYOMING. 49 

William Penn, in consideration of a debt due by 
the English Government to his father Admiral 
Penn, including " All that tract or part of land 
in America with all the islands therein contained 
as the same is bounded on the East by Delaware ri- 
ver from twelve miles distant northwards of New 
Castle town unto the three and fortieth degree of 
northern latitude if the said river doth extend so 
far northward, but if the said river shall not ex- 
tend so far northwards, then by the said river so 
far as it doth extend, and from the head of the said 
river the Eastern bounds are to be determined by a 
meridian line to be drawn from the head of the said 
river unto the said three and fortieth degree, the 
said lands to extend westward five degrees in lon- 
gitude to be computed from the said Eastern bounds 
and the said lands to be bounded on the north by 
the beginning of the three and fortieth degree of 
northern latitude. " 

This Charter extended the claims of Mr. Penn 
as far North as the northern boundary of Connec- 
ticut, and there was consequently an interference 
in the two claims equal to one degree of latitude 
and five degrees of longitude, including the Valley 
of Wyoming and the adjacent country. Thus 
stood the Charter claims between the respective 
parties; but the whole country on the upper waters 
of the Susquehanna being in possession of the In- 
dians it became necessary to procure their title in 
order to secure a just and proper claim to the terri- 
tory. It has been said by a person of respectability* 

*Judge Patterson. 

E 



5d SKETCH OF THB 

that M The Penn family had exclusively the right 
*' of purchasing the lands of the Indians," &c. It 
is therefore proper to take a view of this part of 
the subject. In the Charter granted to the Plym- 
outh Company they were not only authorised to 
take, occupy and possess all parts of their grant 
but to sell and dispose of any part of it, and in the 
Charter to Connecticut the King recognised the 
purchase from the Plymouth Company in the fol- 
lowing words: " That the same Colony or the 
greater part thereof was purchased and obtained 
for great and valuable considerations, and some 
other parts thereof gained by conquest f* and in 
that part of the Charter where the pre-emption 
powers are given to the Colony, he says: " And 
also to have, take, possess, acquire and purchase, 
lands, tenements or hereditaments or any goods 
or chattels* and the same to lease, grant, demise, 
alien, bargain, sell and dispose of," &c. It ap- 
pears evident from the Charter that the most ex- 
tensive powers of pre-emption were given to the 
Colony. But in the Charter to William Penn no 
such powers were expressly given, and they can be 
claimed only by implication, It is evident how- 
ever that the right of -purchasing the lands from 
the Indians as well as of conquest, was intended to 
be given to all the Colonies and Plantations, oth- 
erwise their Charters would have been of very little 
consequence. The English Government however 
exercised the right of regulating the time and man- 
ner of such purchases, as the relations of peace 
Or war might render necessary or proper. 



HISTORY OF WYOMING. 51 

In the year 1753, a number of persons princi- 
pally inhabitants of Connecticut, formed them- 
selves into a Company for the purpose of purcha- 
sing the Susquehanna lands of the Indians, and of 
forming settlements at Wyoming. This associa- 
tion was called the " Susquehanna Company," 
and during the same year they sent out Commis- 
sioners to explore the contemplated territory, and 
to establish a friendly intercourse with sucli In- 
dian tribes as should be found in possession of it. 
A war having commenced between England and 
France, the English Government considered it 
highly necessary that a good understanding should 
be established between the inhabitants of their 
American Colonies and the Indian tribes border- 
ing on their northern and western frontier, for 
should those tribes enter into the service of the 
French who were in possession of the Provinces of 
Upper and Lower Canada, they might essentially 
contribute ia extending the French arms over all 
the British Colonies in America. Orders were 
consequently received from England directing the 
Colonies to hold a general treaty with the Indians 
at Albany in 1754, and to form if possible such an 
alliance with them as would ensure their friendship 
and the safety of his Majesty's possessions in 
America. This treaty it was expected would 
form a favorable opportunity for purchasing lands 
of the Indians, and the Susquehanna Company 
appointed agents to attend at Albany for that pur- 
pose. It may be proper here to observe that in 
those days the inhabitants of the Colonies gencr- 



32 &KETCH OF THE 

ally had very little knowledge of the extent and 
boundaries of the Royal grants. There was not 
perhaps, a. printed copy of any of the Charters to be 
found in America, and even those persons who 
knew tlie terms in which the boundaries were des- 
cribed, had very little knowledge of their actual 
extent unless where a river or the sea formed the 
boundary. How far Pennsylvania extended north 
was not known, as no boundary line had ever been 
run, nor had the latitude of Wyoming Valley ever 
been ascertained. The Commissioners sent out 
by the Company to explore the country, found 
that it lay in a western direction from Connecti- 
cut proper, and beyond the limits of New York, 
and would consequently come within the limits of 
the Connecticut Charter, and the intentions of the 
Company to form settlements at Wyoming and to 
purchase these lands of the Indians were publicly 
known as well to the people of Pennsylvania as to 
those of Connecticut. The Governor of Pennsyl- 
vania however, and these best acquainted with 
the limits of the Province and the geography of the 
country, were well satisfied that Wyoming lay 
within the territory granted to William Penn.— • 
James Hamilton who was at that time Governor of 
Pennsylvania under the Proprietaries, having been 
fully informed of the intentions of the Susquehan- 
na Company, considered it proper that immediate 
measures should be taken to defeat those inten- 
lions, and to purchase the land for the use of the 
Proprietaries of Pennsylvania. Accordingly in a 
letter to Sir William Johnson his Majesty's Indian 



HISTORY OF WYOMING. 53 

agent for the Colony, dated at Philadelphia, March 
20th. 1754, after informing him that the Connec- 
ticut people intended making a purchase of the 
Susquehanna lands at the treaty then soon to be 
held at Albany ; he says: " As this Government 
"has determined to send Commissioners to the 
44 general interview at Albany, I shall direct some 
i4 of the Commissioners to wait on you in order to 
44 confer further with you of what may be necessarj^ 
44 to be done on this occasion, and in the mean 
44 time I shall be much obliged to you to use your 
44 good offices in behalf of this Government so far 
44 as that nothing may be done with the Indians by 
44 the Connecticut agents or any others In their be- 
14 half, to the injury of the Proprietaries of this 
4i Province."* 

On the first day of the same month he wrote to 
the Governor of Connecticut, complaining of the 
intentions and measures of the Connecticut people 
who appeared to be preparing to form settlements 
within the Province of Pennsylvania, and reques- 
ting his Excellency's interference to prevent it.— - 
This letter was sent express by Mr. John Arm- 
strong, afterwards Secretary to the Government. 

Governor Wolcott of Connecticut in his answer 
dated Windsor, March 13th. 1T54, says: "Some 
44 of our inhabitants hearing of this land at Sus- 
44 quehanna and that it was north of the grant 
£i made to Mr. Penn, and that to Virginia, are 



*See copy of the letter on file in the Secretary's 
office, Harrisburg. 



£4 SKETCH OF THE 

" upon a design of making a purchase of the In* 
" dians and hope to obtain a grant of it from the 
"Crown. This appearing a design to promote 
" his majesty's interests and render the country 
<k more defensible we were all wishers to it. But 
" Mr. Armstrong informs me that this is certainly 
44 within Mr. Perm's grant. If so I dont suppose 
"our people had any purpose to quarrel with 
i4 Pennsylvanians."* 

It appears evidently to have been the intention 
of the Susquehanna Company to form a separate 
Colony of that part of the Chartered territory west 
of New York, as Connecticut itself had been form- 
ed from the Charter of New England ; and to give 
the Colony authority to exercise a separate juris- 
diction, a new Charter from the Crown would have 
been necessary. 

It will have been observed that the modes of ac^ 
quiring and possessing new lands under the Char- 
ters of Connecticut and Pennsylvania were essen- 
tially different from each other. In Pennsylvania 
the lands were all granted to one individual, and 
he had, therefore, and those claiming under him, 
the exclusive right of purchasing those lands of the 
Indians ; but in the Connecticut Charter the lands 
were granted to the inhabitants of the Colony in 
their collective and corporate capacity, and until 
restrained by law, each individual possessed an 
equal right to purchase lands of the Indians and te 



*See the original letter on file id the Secretary's 
office; Harrisburgc 



HISTORY OF WYOMING. 53 

occupy and enjoy them. In Pennsylvania Will- 
iam Penn and his Proprietary successors purchased 
the lands in large bodies from the Indians, and 
sold them out to individuals who made promiscuous 
settlements. In Connecticut, individuals or com- 
panies, and generally some religious congregation^ 
took possession of any unoccupied lands, and ha- 
ving purchased the Indian title, or kept possession; 
by force, commenced their settlements by town- 
ships or towns. Such was the mode pursued by 
the Susquehanna Company in relation to the lands 
at Wyoming. 

When the commissioners from the different Col- 
onies and plantations assembled at Albany, there 
appeared from Connecticut, William Pitkin, Ro- 
ger Wolcott and Elisha Williams 5 and from Penn* 
sylvania, John Penn, Richard Penn, Isaac Nor* 
ris and Benjamin Franklin. 

The agents of the Susquehanna company also at- 
tended and concluded a purchase of the Wyoming 
lands from the Indians, on the 11th. of July, 1754. 
The boundaries of which are thus described in their 
Deed bearing that date:—" Beginning from the 
one and fortieth degree of North latitude at ten 
miles East of the Susquehanna river and from 
ihence with a northward line ten miles East of the 
piver to the end of the forty-second or beginning of 
the forty-third degree of North latitude and so to 
extend West two degrees of longitude one hundred 
and twenty miles, and from thence South to the 
beginning of the forty-second degree, and from 
thence East to the above mentioned boundary 



56 SKETCH OF THE 

which is ten miles East of the Susquehanna river." 
This purchase included the Valley of Wyoming 
and the country westward to the head waters of 
the Allegheny river. The country lying between 
the line running ten miles East of the Susquehan- 
na river, and the river Delaware, was purchased by 
another company called the Delaware Company, 

The commissioners of Pennsylvania in conformi- 
ty with their instructions from Governor Hamilton, 
jheld many conferences with the Indians during 
their continuance at Albany for the purpose of pur- 
chasing the same and other lands in Pennsylvania* 
and their reports of those conferences was read in 
council at Philadelphia on the 6th. of August, 
1754, and entered in the minutes of the day, pre- 
faced in the following words. " The commission- 
ers of Pennsylvania having held a private treaty 
with the Six Nations whilst at Albany for the pur- 
chase of lands, their report was likewise read and 
ordered to be entered." In their report it appears 
that the commissioners made many attempts on the 
4th. and 5th. of July to induce the Indians to sell 
the Wyoming lands to the Proprietaries of Penn- 
sylvania, and charged them with being disposed 
to sell to the Connecticut people. Peter Hend- 
rick a chief who acted as one of the principal speak- 
ers on this occasion, became angry with the com- 
missioners in consequence of their observations, 
and among other things said to them: — " We have 
44 heard since we came here that our brother Onas* 



^Governor of Pennsylvania. The title was first 



HISTORY OP WYOMfIN&. 37 

** and our brother of New England, have had some 
" disputes about the lands of Susquehanna ; a dis- 
u pute of the same kind as that of the Governor of 
** Canada and Assaragoah ; but we desire yoti 
** would not differ with one another about it for 
"neither shall have it. We will not part with 
" it to either of you— we will reserve it for our 
■•' western Indians to live upon." They however 
executed a Deed on the 6th. of July, to the Pro- 
prietors of Pennsylvania for a tract of land between 
the Blue Mountain and the forks of the Susque- 
hanna river. 

The Governor of Pennsylvania having been in- 
formed on the return of the commissioners from 
Albany, that the Susquehanna Company had ef- 
fected a purchase of the Wyoming lands, wrote 
to Sir William Johnson on the 15th. of November 
1754, requesting him to induce the Indians if pos- 
sible to deny the regularity of the contract, and a$ 
a preparatory step towards effecting it, to win over 
Hendrick to his interest, and persuade him to vis- 
it Philadelphia. Gov. Morris also enclosed a let- 
ter to Hendrick from himself, in which among 
other things, he says:— " Some matters of great 
moment to this Government as well as to the In- 
dians of the Six Nations, having lately fallen out, 
Which makes it necessary for me to have a private 
conference with you before I can proceed to give 
public notice to them of my arrival here ; and 
as you was so good as to promise t© the coiumisp 



given to William. Penii* 



$8 SKETCH OF THE 

sioners when at Albany that you would, at the r^» 
quest of Government, come at any time to Phila- 
delphia and give your sentiments on any thing that 
might be proposed for the public service, I now 
earnestly desire that you would favor us with a 
visit in order to consult on some affairs in which the 
safety of the Indians and his Majesty's colonies 
are very much concerned that cannot be done by 
message but must first be communicated to you in 
personal conference. If you should incline to take 
with you one or two of your best friends it will be 
the more agreeable. Mr. Daniel Clause is well 
acquainted with the nearest and best roads to this 
city, and he has my directions to accompany you, 
furnish the necessaries, and make everything as 
agreeable to you as possible." 

Sir William Johnson in his answer dated Mount 
Johnson, Dec. 9. 1754, says:— 

** I have been honored with yours of the 15th.; 
ultimo by Mr. Daniel Clause, whom I immediate- 
ly sent to call Hendrick to my house. Upon his 
arrival I delivered and interpreted your honor's 
letter or instructions to him, and urged his waiting 
on you immediately, which when he agreed to, I 
9poke to him concerning the affair as far as I judg- 
ed necessary $ and I flatter myself it will have a 
good effect, he having faithfully promised me to 
exert himself and use his utmost endeavors for the 
interest of the Proprietaries against the Connecti- 
cut attempt. After my expatiating some time oh 
the injustice of their proceedings, more especially 
go after what had passed at Albany last June, Hen* 



HISTORY •¥ WYOMING. 59 

itrick then with some warmth disapproved of then* 
as well as the weakness of those of his brethren 
Who were seduced by Lidias, and promised to 
do all he could to make them revoke or retract what 
they had so shamefully done. " 

The Susquehanna Company at this time consis- 
ted of six hundred and seventy-three persons, ten 
of whom were inhabitants of Pennsylvania, and 
having completed their purchase, concluded to di- 
vide the land into shares which were to be distribu- 
ted among the several claimants. A general meet- 
ing of the company was therefore called to be hol- 
den at Hartford on the 20th of November, and a 
messenger was sent to Pennsylvania to notify the 
members resident in that Province. The messen- 
ger having arrived in Northampton County, was 
arrested upon a warrant issued by Daniel Brod- 
head, Esq. a magistrate of Lower Smithfield, who 
having ascertained many particulars concerning the 
company, immediately communicated them by let- 
ter to Richard Peters, Esq. a member of the Coun- 
cil of Pennsylvania. Upon receiving this informa- 
tion, Gov. Morris sent Mr. John Armstrong to 
Connecticut for the purpose of collecting whatever 
information could be obtained in relation to the 
Company and the measures which they intended to 
adopt. He was also the bearer of a letter from 
Governor Morris to the Governor of Connecticut. 
In which the former again refers to the Deed from 
the Six Nations to William Penn dated Oct 11, 
1736, and to the engagement then made by the 
Indians to sell all the lands in Pennsylvania to 



€0 SKETCH OP THE 

William Penn and to no one else 5 after which he 
proceeds to say: 

44 You will give me leave further to observe to 
you that the Six Nations at the late Congress at 
Albany, in open council mentioned on application 
then made to them by agents from Connecticut for 
the purchase of some of the Susquehanna lands and 
that they had absolutely refused to give any ear to 
$uch proposal, telling the several Governments 
then present by their Commissioners that they were 
determined the lands at a place called Wyomink 
Or the Susquehanna should not be settled, but re- 
Served for a place of retreat." He further ob- 
serves: u Notwithstanding which I am informed 
that Mr. John Lidias who is known to be a Roman 
Catholick, and in the French interest, has been 
-since employed by some people of your Province 
to purchase from the Indians some lands within 
this Government: that he has in a clandestine 
manner, by very unfair means, prevailed on some 
few Indians to whom he secretly applied to sign a 
Deed for a considerable part of the lands of this 
Province, including those at Wyomink. And 
as we stand engaged to the Six Nations by treaty 
neither to settle the lands at Wyomink, or suffer 
them to be settled, this Government thought it 
proper (among other things) to inform the Indians 
that those people were not authorised or even coun- 
tenanced by this Government, and their attempts 
Were disavowed by the Government of Connecticut 
and were to be looked upon as a lawless set of people 
for whose conduct no Government is accountable, ■' 



HISTORY OF WYOMING. O'l 

It may be proper here to give some account of 
the Deed of 1736, and the Province spoken of.— 
It was " For all the said river Susquehanna with 
" the lands lying on both sides thereof, to extend 
** Eastward as far as the heads of the branches or 
14 springs which run into the said. Susquehanna, 
i4 and all the lands on the West side of the said 
"river to the setting of the sun : and to extend 
u from the mouth of said river up to the mountains 
" called in the language of the Six Nations, Tay- 
; i amentasatchta, and by the Delaware Indians, 
4 'the Kakatchlauamin hills." These hills are what 
arc now called the Blue Mountains, and they for- 
med the northern boundary of this purchase. The 
Deed is signed by twenty-three chiefs of the Onon- 
dago, Seneca, Oneida and Tuscarora Nations. 

A promise is annexed that they will never sell 
any lands within the " Government of Pennsylva- 
nia," to any persons but the Proprietaries of Penn- 
sylvania. It appears however by the speeches of 
various Indian chiefs at subsequent treaties, that 
the Government of Pennsylvania was supposed to 
extend no further North than those mountains, and 
the Indians, as Gov. Morris observed, had abso- 
lutely refused to sell the Wyoming lands ; they 
were to be reserved as Hendrick remarked " for the 
Western Indians to live upon." 

The Commissioners of Pennsylvania were aware 
that such was understood by the Indians to be the 
limits of the Government ©f Pennsylvania 4 , and at 
the treaty at Albany on the 9th day of July, after 
the meeting of council that day, they drew a Deed 



62 SKETCH <TF TH35 

of promise which was endorsed on the Deed of Jan, 
13, 1696, from Col. Dungan formerly Governor 
of New York to William Penn, and made part of 
a supplement to that Deed, by which instrument 
the Indians who signed it promised never to sell 
any lands in Pennsylvania, as the same is bounded 
by New York, except to the Proprietaries. To 
this promise they procured the signatures of nine 
of the Indians then present at the treaty. 

Mr. Armstrong made a report to Gov. Morris 
on the 11th. of December, 1T54, containing a par- 
ticular statement of the information which he had 
collected during his tour to Connecticut, by which 
it appears that the Susquehanna company must 
have increased in numbers after the purchase. He 
says: " There were formerly five hundred subscri- 
bers at seven dollars each, to which are now added 
three hundred at nine dollars each." 

After having concluded the negotiation with the 
Six Nations, and become organised in a regular 
manner, the Susquehanna company made applica- 
tion toihe Legislature of Connecticut requesting 
i he concurrence of that body in an application to 
the King of Great Britain for a new Charter giving 
them authority to establish a new Colonial Govern- 
ment within the limits of their purchase. The Le- 
gislature received their petition very favorably and 
on the second Thursday in May 1755 passed a res- 
olution approving of the measures of the company 
and recommended them to his Majesty's favor.* 



"These proceedings at large in Secretary's office.. 



HISTORY OF WYOMING. &3 

In the summer of 1755 the company having pro- 
cured the consent of the Colony of Connecticut for 
the establishment of a settlement, and if his majes- 
ty should consent, of a separate Government with- 
in the limits of their purchase, sent out a number 
of persons to Wyoming, accompanied by their sur- 
veyors and agents, to commence a settlement.— 
On their arrival, they found the Indians in a state 
of war with the English Colonies ; and the news of 
the defeat of Gen. Braddock having been received 
at Wyoming, produced such an animating effect 
upon the Nanticoke tribe of Indians, that the mem- 
bers of the new Colony would probably have been 
retained as prisoners had it not been for the inter- 
ference of some of the principal chieftains of the 
Delaware Indians, and particularly of Tedeusc \iyh} 9 
who retained their attachment to their christian 
brethren of the Moravian Church, and their friend- 
ship in some degree for the English. The members 
of the Colony consequently returned to Connecti- 
cut, and the attempt to form a settlement at Wyo- 
ming was abandoned until a more favorable onnor- 
tunity. The Nanticokes, having during the sum- 
mer removed from Wyoming, united with their 
more powerful neighbors in persuading the Dela- 
ware Indians who alone remained in the Valley, to 
unite in the war against the English Colonies. To 
this measure the Delawares were already much in- 
clined and the capture of Fort Oswego, which took 
place in August 1756, induced them to declare 
more openly their hostility against the English 
which had in some degree made its appearance af» 



64 SKETCH OF THE 

iQv the defeat of Gen. Braddock. The Govern- 
men! of Pennsylvania seeing the necessity of nego- 
tiating a peace with the Shawanese and Delaware 
Indians invited them to a treaty which was held at 
Gaston in November, where a peace was conclu- 
ded between those tribes and the English Colonies. 
an account of which is given in the preceding- 
Chapter. 

In the summer of 1757. the Delaware Company 
commenced a settlement at Coshutunk on the Del- 
aware river which appears to have been the first 
settlement established within the limits of the Con- 
necticut Charter West of the Province of New 
STork 5 for although there appears to have been a 
: I fort built at the Minisinks on the same river 
ifO,# --yet that fort was soon afterwards aban- 
tl ia consequence of some difficulties with the 
tans, who refused to sell the lands. 

A general peace having been effected with the 
Indians in 1758, the Susquehanna company re- 
sumed their intentions of forming a settlement a. ! 
Wyoming^ but the various events of the war be 
ween England and France which was at this time 
carried on with considerable vigor by their respec- 
tive American Colonies, contributed to retard 
their measures for this purpose until the year 1762 ? 
when in the month of August about two hundred 
prisoners from the Colony of Connecticut arrived 
at Wyoming and commenced the first settlement 
xhcre under the authority of the Company. Or 

Trumbull. 



HISTORY OF WYOMING. 65 

the left bank of the river a short distance above 
the mouth of a fine stream which came in from the 
East, a spot was selected for cultivation. It was 
sufficiently distant from either of the Indian towns 
to prevent any interference in their agricultural 
pursuits, and here the settlers began their first im- 
provements. A small house was built of logs at 
the mouth of the creek,* surrounded by several 
small cabins which formed the residence of the 
whole Colony, and here they were visited during 
their hours of relaxation by the Indians with whom 
they lived on terms of the utmost friendship and 
hospitality. They found the Valley covered with 
woods, except a few acres in the immediate vicini- 
ty of the Shawanese and Wyoming towns which 
had been improved by the Indians in the cultiva- 
tion of their corn, and which was still in part oc- 
cupied by them. The summer was so far advanced 
when the new Colony arrived, that they could on- 
ly prepare a few acres for wheat, and as provi 
sions for their sustenance during the winter could 
not be procured from the Indians, they concealed 
their tools and implements of husbandry, and in 
November departed for their former habitations in 
New England. 

While the Susquehanna company were project- 
ing and pursuing these measures, the Proprieta- 
ries of Pennsylvania, foreseeing that important 
difficulties would arise in the settlement of the 
controversy with the people of Connecticut, am' 



; ; Since called " Mill-creek,* 9 
F* 



65 SKETCH OF THE 

that the Kitig of England was too much occupied 
by his war with France to undertake the settlement 
of Colonial disputes, submitted to the English At- 
torney General, for his opinion among others, the 
following question :• — 

" Whether the people of Connecticut have any 
color or pretence under their Charter to set up this 
right to this tract of land westward of New Jersey 
through Pennsylvania as far as the South Sea ; and 
what is most advisable for the Proprietaries to do 
in ease the Government of Connecticut persist in 
their claim ?" 

'*°h\ Pratt the. Attorney General, afterwards 
Lord Camden, delivered his reply to Mr. Perm in 
March 17*61, and as the station as w r ellas the tal- 
ents of this gentleman entitle his opinion t» some 
i 5 -t. it may be well to give it at large on this 
question. He says :— 

•• if all the Colonies in North America were to 

remain at this day bounded in point of right as they 

are described in the original grant ofeachldonotbe- 

'eve there is one settlement in that part of the globe 

< iat has not been encroached upon, or else usurped 

noon its neighbour, so that if the grants were of 

themselves the only rule between the contending 

■rations there never would be an end to the dis- 

rmte without unsettling large tracts of land where 

the inhabitants have no better iitle to produce than 

either possession or posterior grants, which in 

t of law would be suspended by prior Charters, 

• I conceive that many other circumstances 

?tbe en into consideration besides the parch* 



HISTORY OF WYOMING. 67 

ment boundary, for that may at this day be exten- 
ded or narrowed by possession, acquiescence or 
agreement, by the situation and condition of the 
territory at the time of the grant, as well as by 
various other matters with respect to the present 
dispute. The western boundary of Connecticut 
was barred at the time of the original grant by the 
Dutch settlements and the crown was deceived 
when they were prevailed upon to convey a terri- 
tory which belonged to another State then in amity 
with the crown of England. Besides this objec- 
tion the settlement of the new boundary under the 
King's commission in 1664, and what is still stron- 
ger, the new line marked out by agreement be- 
tween this Province and New York, has now con- 
clusively precluded Connecticut from advancing 
one foot beyond those limits. It was absolutely 
necessary for the crown, after the cession of the 
New Netherlands, to decide the clashing rights of 
the Duke of York and the adjoining Colonies ; and 
therefore all that was done by virtue of the com- 
mission then awarded for that purpose must at this 
day be decreed valid as the nations have ever since 
that time submitted to those determinations, and 
die Colonies of New York and New Jersey submit 
only upon the authority of those acts. I am of opin- 
ion therefore that the Colony of Connecticut has 
no right to resume its ancient boundary by over- 
leaping the Province of New York so as to en- 
croach upon the Pennsylvania grant, which was 
not made until after the Connecticut boundary had 
been reduced by new confines, which restored the 



fjS SKETCH 0F THIS 

land beyond those settlements westward to the 
crown and laid them open to a new grant. The state 
of the country in dispute is a material state reason 
why the crown ought to interfere in the present case 
and put a stop to this growing mischief. But I 
doubt this business cannot be adjusted very soon 
because Mr. Penn must apply to the crown for 
relief, which method of proceeding will necessari- 
ly take up time as the Province of Connecticut 
must have notice and be heard." 

The position assumed by the Proprietaries of 
Pennsylvania, being calculated to exclude the Col- 
ony of Connecticut from all her claims westward 
of New York, very naturally excited the interest of 
the inhabitants of that Colony, and the Government 
feeling an equal desire to have their claims fully 
examined, submitted the subject to the considera- 
tion of learned and eminent council in England, 
who gave their opinion in favor of the Connecticut 
claim, as follows: — 

" The agreement between the Colony of Con* 
necticut and the Province of New York can extend 
. no further than to settle the boundaries between 
the respective parties, and can have no effect up m 
any claims that either of them had in Other] ts, 
and as the Charter of Connecticut was granted <mt 
eighteen years before that to Sir William Penn 5 
there is no good ground to contend that the crown 
eould at that period make an effectual grant to him 
of that country which had so recently been granted 
to others : but if the country had actually i«een 
settled under the latter grant, it would now be a 



HISTORY OF WYOMING. 69 

matter of considerable doubt whether the right of 
the occupiers, or the title under which they hold, 
could be impeached by a prior grant without actu- 
al settlement." 

The settlement at Coshutunk continued to pro- 
gress. In 1760 it contained thirty dwelling hou- 
ses, three large log houses, one block house for 
defence, one grist-mill and one saw-mill. 

Early in the spring of 1763, the Susquehanna 
adventurers returned to Wyoming with their fam- 
ilies and a number of new emigrants, with a view 
of commencing a permanent settlement ; for which 
purpose they brought a number of cattle and hogs, 
and considerable stores of provisions for immediate 
tise. They took possession of their former dwell- 
ings at the mouth of the creek which they found in 
the same condition in which they had been left the 
preceding autumn, and commenced their labours 
by extending their improvements upon the West 
side of the river. The Indians in the Valley still 
continued apparently friendly, and although they 
acknowledged the power and influence of the Six 
Nations, they considered themselves as entitled to 
some compensation for the lands occupied by the 
Connecticut people, and appeared to view with 
suspicion the increasing number of their new 
lieighbors. 

These suspicions were much increased by the 
conduct of several warriors of the Six Nations who, 
having cherished a hatred against Tedeuscund 
since the peace of 1758, a hatred which his influ- 
ence among the white people was not calculated to 



70 SKETCH OF THE 

diminish, came among the Delawares Tinder the 
garb of friendship, and having in the night treach- 
erously set fire to the dwelling of Tedeuscund, 
the building, together with the venerable chieftain 
was consumed, and the crime laid to the charge of 
the new Colonists. During the preceding summer 
the friendly disposition manifested by the Indians 
to the Wyoming settlers, as the Connecticut emi- 
grants were called, had created a degree of con- 
fidence on their part which had prevented any ex- 
pectation of danger 5 and fearing that warlike arms 
might create suspicion, they had not furnished 
themselves with any, and were almost destitute of 
any means of defence in case of an attack from the 
savages. While thus unsuspicious and occupied 
as usual with the labors of the field, they were at- 
tacked on the fifteenth of October by a party of In- 
dians who massacred about twenty persons, took 
several prisoners and having seized upon the live 
stock drove it towards their Town. Those who 
escaped, hastened to their dwellings, gave the 
alar in to the families of those who were killed, and 
the remainder of the Colonists, men, women and 
children, fled precipitately to the mountains, from 
whence they beheld the smoke arising from their 
late habitations and the savages feasting on the re- 
mains of their little property. They had taken no 
provisions with them except what they had hastily 
seized in their flight, and must pass through a 
wilderness sixty miles in extent before they could 
reach the Delaware river. They had left brothers, 
husbands and sons to the mercy of the savages j-r 



HISTORY O? WYOMING. 71 

they had no means of defence in case they should 
be attacked, and found themselves exposed to the 
cold winds of autumn without sufficient raiment. 
With these melancholy recollections and cheerless 
prospects did the fugitives commence a journey of 
two hundred and fifty miles on foot. 

Tie report of this circumstance having reached 
Governor Hamilton of Pennsylvania, a detach- 
ment of militia from that Province under the com- 
mand of Colonel James Boyd was ordered to march 
from Harrisburgto Wyoming and disperse the sav- 
ages. Col. Boyd was also nominated a commis- 
si oner on the part of Pennsylvania to act in con- 
junction with such person as might be appointed on 
the part of Connecticut (agreeably to his majesty's 
order in such cases,) to put a stop to all disorders 
and establish tranquillity in the Colony. On the 
arrival of the detachment at Wyoming they found 
the Valley abandoned by the Indians who had 
scalped those whom they had killed and carried 
away their captives and plunder. The bodies of 
the, slain lay strewed upon the field, and Col. Boyd 
having caused them to be decently interred, with- 
drew with his detachment down the river. The 
hostile Indians had lied to Shesh'eqitanni or Shesk- 
equinurik, an Indian Town on the Bank of the Sus- 
quehanna a little below Tioga Point or Tyogo ; 
but those who continued friendly to the English and 
had embraced the christian religion, removed to 
Gnaddeohutten on the Lehigh near the English set- 
tlement, where they were taken under the protec- 
tion of the Moravian Church. A definitive treaty 



72 SKETCH OF THE 

of peace being concluded between England and 
France in 1763, hostilities between their Ameri- 
can Colonies consequently ceased and the differ- 
ent Indian tribes resumed their friendly traffic with 
the English settlements. The christian Indians af- 
terwards removed in a body to Wyalusing on the 
Susquehanna, where, in the year 1765, they built a 
regular town on the bank of the river near the 
mouth of Wyalusing creek, and erected a spacious 
church. Here they attended strictly to their reli- 
gious duties and employed themselves principally 
in agricultural pursuits. 

Peace hairing been established between the Eng- 
lish Colonies and the different tribes of Indians 
bordering upon their frontier settlements, the Brit- 
ish ministry considered it a favorable time to culti- 
vate a friendly intercourse with the Indians and to 
fix and establish a permanent and certain bounda- 
ry line between the Indian territories and the lands 
which had been at different times purchased by the 
Colonies, and accordingly gave orders for effecting 
these objects to the different Colonial and Provin- 
cial Governments. In pursuance of these orders 
a general treaty was held with the Indians at Fort 
Stanwix near the Oneida lake, in October 1768, 
where various purchases of lands were made, and 
such agreements entered into with the Indian tribes 
as were well calculated to preserve a good under- 
standing between them and the English Colonies.. 
At this treaty the Proprietaries of Pennsylvania 
procured a Deed from a number of the chief*! of the 
Six Nations, dated on the oth. day of November- 



H19T0R* OF WYOMING. 7*3 

1768, for all the lands not previously sold to the 
Proprietaries lying within the Province of Penn- 
sylvania. This purchase included Wyoming and 
nil the lands previously sold by the chiefs of the 
same Nations to the Susquehanna company. The 
reader perhaps, is aware that an Indian gift and 
an Indian bargain are proverbial. The Indians 
would probably have sold the land as often as the} r 
could have received pay for it. After the conclu- 
sion of the treaty the Susquehanna company held a 
general meeting at Hartford, and entered into par- 
ticular resolutions relative to the settlement of 
"Wyoming. In these resolutions they say : that in 
1765, having been advised that his majesty had in- 
hibited all settlements of lands adjoining the Indian 
territory until precautions should be taken by his 
majesty's orders for preventing troubles with the 
Indians, and as those precautions have been made 
at the treaty at Fort Stanwix, they resolve that 
forty persons, being proprietors, shall proceed to 
Wyoming to commence settlements by the first of 
February ; that two hundred more shall follow 
them early in the spring, and that ^£200 shall be im- 
mediately appropriated to provide implements of 
husbandry and provisions for the forty. Their res* 
olutions appointed a committee consisting of Isaac 
Tripp, Benjamin Follet, John Jenkins, William 
Buck and Benjamin Shoemaker, being part of the 
forty, who were to have the government and su- 
perintendence of the new Colony. This commit- 
tee were to be increased to the number of nine per- 
sons on the arrival of the 209 men, ami they were 

G 



7-4 SKETCH OY Ti*E 

authorised to exercise legislative, executive and 
judicial powers for the order and good government 
of the settlement ; but there was an appeal reserved 
from this tribunal to a general meeting of the whole 
company, which, as in the system of Lycurgus, 
possessed the only real sovereign authority. The 
Proprietaries of Pennsylvania having effected a 
purchase of the Wyoming lands, and being infor- 
med of the intentions of the Susquehanna company 
to resume their settlements, took immediate meas- 
ures to get possession of the territory, in order to 
defeat the intentions of the company. For this 
purpose a lease was drawn by John Penn on the 
port of the Proprietaries to Charles Stewart, Amos 
Ogden and John Jennings, for one hundred acres 
of land at Wyoming for the term of seven years. 
They were to establish a house there for the pur- 
pose of trading with the Indians, and were to de- 
fend themselves and those who might go on under 
them, as well as their possessions, against all ene- 
mies whatsoever. * Stewart was a surveyor, and in 
compliance with the directions of the Proprietaries 
he surveyed and laid out the Valley into two exten- 
sive manors for their use : one on the East side of 
the river extending from iSanticoke Falls to Ma- 
nokony Island, and from the river nearly to the 
foot of the mountain including the old Wyoming- 
Town, was called the " Manor of Stoke 5" and 
the other on the West side nearly of the same ex- 
tent was called the " Manor of Sunbury." Thee$. 



*See lease on file in Secretary's office, 



HISTORY OE WYOMIXfiU VD 

lessees with several other adventurers removed to 
Wyoming in January 1769, and took possession ojf 
the improvements made by the Connecticut people 
from which they had been driven by the Indians in 
1763. On the 8th. of February 1769, the fore- 
persons selected by the Susquehanna company ar- 
rived at Wyoming, and found Stewart and Ogdcn 
with their party in possession of their former im- 
provements and well secured in a fortified block 
house at the mouth of Mill creek. They accord- 
ingly took possession of another piece of ground and 
built temporary huts for their protection during the 
remainder of the winter. Having soon afterwards 
ascertained that the Ogden party claimed the land 
Under grants from the Proprietaries of Pennsylva- 
nia, and that their garrison was small, they adop- 
ted such measures as cut off the communication be- 
tween the block-house and the surrounding coun- 
try, and entirely invested the Pennsylvania garri- 
son. Ogden and Stewart having been apprized of 
the approach of the Connecticut party by express 
from Mr. Vancampen on the Delaware, despatched 
a messenger on the 6th. to Gov. Penn with the 
intelligence, informing him that their garrison con- 
sisted of only ten persons at that time, and that 
reinforcements with provisions would be immedi- 
ately necessary. Having waited several days with 
a hope of receiving reinforcements, and finding 
that hope likely to fail, Ogden had recourse to 
stratagem to effect what he had not power to execute 
by force. He accordingly, after exhibiting his little 
garrison to the best advantage, addressed a note to 



b SKETCH OF THE 

the Connecticut settlers inviting some of their 
principal men to his house under pretext of effect- 
ing an amicable negociation concerning their res- 
pective titles. The invitation was accepted, and 
Isaac Tripp, Vine Elderkin and Benjamin Follett 
repaired to the block-house where they were im- 
mediately seized by Jennings who was Sheriff of 
Northampton County, and being conveyed to Eas- 
ton, were thrown into prison. Their companions 
were sufficiently numerous to have rescued them r 
but would not attempt it through fear of endanger- 
ing the safety of the prisoners. They accompa- 
nied the Sheriff to Easton, and having procured 
bail for their peaceable behavior, the whole party 
returned again to Wyoming. In the month of 
March Jennings having ascertained that the settle- 
ment of Connecticut people was increasing, assem- 
bled a number of persons as a posse, and being ac- 
companied by Lewis Gordon, Anson Depui and 
Henry Hooker, three Justices of the Peace, pro- 
ceeded to Wyoming. On their arival the Connec- 
ticut people apprized of their approach had secured 
themselves in a fortified house, but the Sheriff and 
his posse, having succeeded in forcing it open, 
seized them and carried the whole, to the num< 
ber of thirty one persons, to Easton, except a fe\r 
who escaped on their march through the swamp. 

In April the two hundred emigrants appointed 
by the Susquehanna company arrived at Wyoming, 
and were joined by those who had been taken to 
Easton and had been liberated on giving bail. — =• 
The new Colony, finding they were exposed to be 



HISTORY OF WYOMING. 77 

annoyed by the Pennsylvania party, built a Fort 
a short distance from the bauk of the river by the 
side of a small stream which Hows through the 
plain, to which they gave the name of " Fort 
Durkee" in honor of the person who was chosen to 
command the garrison. Near the Fort they erec- 
ted about twenty log houses which were provided 
with loop-holes to fire through in case of an attack. 
Their Fort consisted of a strong block-house sur- 
rounded by a rampart and entrenchment, and be- 
ing guarded by the river on one side, and a morass 
extending along the brook on another, afforded a 
very secure place of refuge in case it should be ne- 
cessary to abandon their houses. Jennings and 
Ogden, who had left Wyoming for a few weeks, 
being informed that the Connecticut people were 
again collecting at that place, assembled as many 
as they could persuade to accompany them, and 
proceeded to Wyoming, where they arrived on the 
24th. of May, but finding the Connecticut people 
too numerous and too well fortified to justify an 
attack upon them, returned again to Easton, and 
made a report to the Governor in which Jennings 
says: he " does not believe it is possible to raise 
a force in the county strong enough to dispossess 
them, they being by account upwards of 300 able 
bodied men. 5 ' 

The new Colony having fortified themselves and 
commenced their agricultural operations for the 
summer, the Susquehanna company thought it a 
favorable time to open negociations with the Pro* 
prietaries of Pennsylvania, andv accordingly in 

G* 



8 SKETCH OF THE 

May Colonel Dyer and Major Elderkin were sent 
with full powers to negociate for a settlement of all 
disputes concerning the Wyoming lands, who, on 
their arrival in Philadelphia, submitted to Benja- 
min Chew, Esq. agent for the Proprietaries, the 
following proposition: 

" Shall all matters in dispute between the Sus- 
quehanna company and the Proprietaries of Penn- 
sylvania relative to the claim made by the former 
of lands within the Charter limits of Pennsylvania 
be referred to a Court of Law to be selected 
or constituted by the parties, or to Referees to be 
mutually chosen by the parties, and in either case 
the decision to be conclusive." 

This proposition was rejected as preparations 
were then in train for sending an armed force to 
Wyoming to dispossess the Colony. A full copy 
of the resolutions and proceedings of the Susque- 
hanna company at their general meeting held at 
Hartford during the previous winter, had been 
sent to Governor Penn, by Sir Henry Moore, Go- 
vernor of New York, and had been considered by 
the council of the 13th. of February, 1769. In 
consequence of these resolutions, and the events 
which had subsequently transpired, an armed force 
was sent to Wyoming under the command of Col. 
"Francis, who appeared before Fort Durkee on the 
22d. of June, and demanded a surrender of the 

garrison and settlement into his hands. This de- 
p 

mand was promptly refused, and the Colonel, after 
fceconnoitering the position of the Connecticut for- 
ces, and finding them too strongly entrenched to be 



HISTORY OF WYOMING* 7% 

captured by his forces, withdrew his troops with- 
out commencing any attack. The Proprietaries,, 
finding by the report of Col. Francis that a more 
powerful force was necessary, concluded to send 
the Sheriff of Northampton with a powerful posse 
of that county to dispossess the Wyoming settlers. 
Accordingly a long and formal letter of instruc- 
tions was made out by Gov. Penn at Philadelphia, 
on the 24th. of August, 1769, and directed to 
John Jennings, Sheriff of Northampton county, 
directing him to raise the posse of the count}', and 
proceed to Wyoming to dispossess all persons 
whom he might find settled there under any other 
title than that of the Proprietaries. In these in- 
structions the Governor says: 

" It is however warmly recommended to you f 
to exercise on this unhappy occasion the utmost 
discretion and prudence, to avoid the effusion of 
blood, and that neither you or your party strike, 
fire at, or wound the offenders, unless you are 
first stricken, fired at or wounded." 

In pursuance of these instructions Jennings as- 
sembled a large force in Northampton county, 
having been furnished with a large quantity oi ;ire 
arms, an iron four pounder, and a quantity of fixed 
ammunition? he proceeded to Wyoming, accom- 
panied by several magistrates. Ogden and his 
party, having been informed of the Sheriff s ap- 
proach, suddenly surrounded the houses of some 
of the settlers with about forty armed men, and 
took by surprize several prisi lers, among whom 
was Col. Durkee who was taken to the Philade)- 



8Q SKETCH OP THE 

phia prison. Two days afterwards Jenning3 and 
his armed force arrived and paraded to the number 
of 200 men before Fort Durkee, where they con- 
tinued on a parley with the garrison, while Ogden 
and his party collected and drove away all the cat- 
tle and horses in the neighborhood. The next day 
Jennings and his party again assembled in front of 
the Fort and began to erect a battery on which they 
mounted the four pounder. The garrison having 
been deprived of one of their commanders, (CoL 
Durkee,) and having no means of defence but mus- 
kets and rifles, and seeing that a regular siege was 
about to be commenced, concluded to surrender 
the Fort to Jennings. Articles of capitulation were 
accordingly entered into between the parties by 
which the Fort and buildings were to be given up 
to Ogden, Jennings and their party. Fourteen 
men were to remain in possession of their houses on 
the part of Connecticut, with their families and ef- 
fects, and to take care of, and harvest the grain 
sowed, and to hold possession on the part of the 
Susquehanna company, until his majesty's pleas- 
ure in the premises should be known. These arti- 
cles having been duly exchanged and the Connecti- 
cut settlers, with the exception of the seventeen, 
having peaceably left the disputed territory, Ogden 
and his party commenced an indiscriminate plun- 
der of whatever could be found in the settlement, 
cattle, sheep, swine, and other articles, were ta- 
ken and carried to market upon the Delaware.— 
The seventeen settlers who were left in possession 
being thus deprived of the means of sustenance dx?- 



HISTORY OF WYOMING. 81 

zing the winter, were under the necessity of leav- 
ing their habitations and returning to their friendfe 
in New England* 

In the month of February, 1770, a number of 
people from Lancaster county, at the head of whom 
was Lazarus Stewart, accompanied by a number 
of the Connecticut people, underarms, proceeded 
to Wyoming, and finding in Fort Durkee a garri- 
son of only 8 or 10 men, took possession of the 
Fort without opposition. They then sent a party 
to Ogden's house at Mill creek and took from it 
#18 four pounder which was deposited there, and 
conveyed it to the Fort, Ogden being then absent. 
On being informed of these transactions, Ogden re- 
turned to Wyoming and collected his party into 
his house which they again fortified. On the 28th* 
of March about fifty armed men from the garri- 
son of Fort Durkee, proceeded to Ogden's house in 
order if possible to make him prisoner, but a Dep- 
uty of the Sheriff was then in the house, having ac- 
companied Ogden home, and he immediately pro- 
ceeded with the force which was then in the house 
to arrest the party from the Fort. On the approach 
of the deputy and his party a skirmish ensued in 
which several of the Connecticut party were 
wounded, and one man of the name of Stager kill- 
ed. Which party commenced the fire is not 
known, as each accused the other of doing it. The 
party from the Fort finding that Ogden and his parr 
ty in the house were armed and could fire at thera 
without being exposed, his house being a well built 
block -iiouso fitted for a siege, returned to Fort 



32 SKETCH OF THE 

Durkee to devise means of expelling Ogden and 
his party from the settlement before reinforcements 
could arrive, each party being too strong in its 
fortification to be taken by storm with the forces 
the other possessed. In pursuance of the resolu- 
tion agreed upon in full council at Fort Durkee, 
the Connecticut party, on the 9th, of April com- 
menced the erection of a block-house on the West 
side of the river, opposite Ogden's block-house, 
•which they fortified in a strong manner, and in 
which they mounted the four-pounder which they 
had taken from Ogden. With this piece they 
commenced a cannonade upon Ogden's house, 
which was removed at intervals for several days ; 
but finding that it did not force Ogden to surren- 
der, and their shot nearly expended, they resolv- 
ed upon a different manner of attack. Accordingly 
on the 23d. of April, the Connecticut party march- 
ed in columns from Fort Durkee with drums beat- 
ing, and having advanced near Ogden's house, 
they formed into three divisions, and each division 
commenced the erection of a breast-work which 
was completed about noon, when a fire opened 
from each upon the block-house. This fire was 
returned by Ogden and his party, and was con- 
tinued at intervals between the two parties for five 
days. On the 25th. the third day of the siege, a 
detachment from the Connecticut party advanced 
from one of the breast-works under a fire from the 
block-house, and set fire to one of Ogden's houses 
which was consumed together with a considerable 
quantity of goods and provisions-, On the 28tlb 



HISTORY OF WYOM'INCS. %S 

Major Durkee who had returned from Philadel- 
phia, and who commanded the Connecticut party, 
sent a flag with a note to Capt. Ogden requesting a 
conference. Ogden accordingly waited on the 
Major for that purpose, when a cessation of hos- 
tilities until the next day at 1£ o'clock were agreed 
upon. On the next day (the 29th. of April,) arti- 
cles of capitulation were entered into by which it 
was agreed that Ogden and his party, who had 
no improvements upon the land, should depart the 
territory by the first of March — and that six men 
of Ogden's party should remain to take care of the 
property belonging to that party, and should occu- 
py one of the houses. After Ogden had departed 
in pursuance of these articles, some difficulties 
arose between the six men and the Connecticut 
party, and the latter remembering the last capitu- 
lation, took possession of Ogden's property and 
burnt his house. Among the prisoners that were 
found in Ogden's block-house after the capitulation, 
were eight men from New England, and three Ger- 
mans who had never been at Wyoming, and who 
mistook Capt. Ogden's house for the Fort. The 
number of killed and wounded during the siege of 
Ogden's block-house, is not now known. After 
the attack of the £8th of March, Ogden despatched 
a messenger to Gov. Penn, informing him of the 
investment of his block-house, and the necessity of 
reinforcements ; but as dissatisfaction to a very 
great degree had already manifested itself between 
the American Colonies and the Government of 
Great Britain, Governor Penn, like other Colonial. 



*$"4 SKETCH OF THE 

Governors, found his authority very fast declining, 
and not being able to afford the relief so immedi- 
ately necessary to Ogden, he wrote from Phila- 
delphia on the 6th. of April to General Gage who 
then commanded his majesty's troops in the city 
of New York, for the assistance of the force under 
his command. In his letter, after informing the 
General that the Connecticut people were forming 
settlements in Pennsylvania, that they had built a 
large stockade fort at Wyoming, &c. he says:— 
44 They have lately gone so for as to fire upon a 
party of our people who had several of their asso- 
ciates under legal arrest which obliged them to re- 
turn the fire, and it unfortunately happened that 
one of the rioters was killed and another wound- 
ed." He goes on farther to add: " Not having 
any militia in the Province, I find myself under 
the disagreeable necessity of applying for the aid 
.of the military to support the civil power." Gen. 
Gage, in his answer dated New York, April 15, 
1770, among other things says; " The troops in 
all the Provinces have orders in general to assist the 
civil power when they shall be legally called upon, 
but the affair in question seems to be a dispute con- 
cerning property in which I cannot but think it 
would be highly improper for the King's troops 
to interfere. " Not succeeding in this, attempt to. 
obtain assistance, the Proprietaries of Pennsylva- 
nia concluded to assemble such forces as their per- 
sonal exertions could raise, for the recovery of 
Wyoming ; and according';/ ir Sept< rnbcr a force 
of one hundred and forty men was placed under 



HISTORY OF WYOMING. bi> 

the command of Capt. Ogden. A Proclamation 
had been published at Philadelphia by Gov. Penn 
on the 28th. day of June, directing all intruders to 
depart from Wyoming, and forbidding any settle- 
ments to be made there without the consent of the 
Proprietaries, and Ogden marched with his forces, 
accvjvnpanied by Aaron Van Campen, Esq. and 
other civil officers, ostensibly for the purpose of 
carrying this Proclamation into effect. Ogden, 
knowing his strength was insufficient for the reduc- 
tion of the settlement in case the settlers should be 
in garrison, concluded if possible to attack them 
by surprize 5 and to effect this the more safely, he 
commenced his march by way of Fort Allen on 
the Lehigh near the Water-gap, and thence by the 
warrior's path to Wyoming. Having arrived in 
sight of the Wyoming mountains they left the path 
for the greater safety, and on the night of the 21st. 
of September encamped on the head waters of Sol- 
omon's creek. In the morning of the 22d., Ogden 
with a few attendants ascended the high nob of 
Bullock's mountain, now called u Penobscot V 
which commands a view of the whole Valley of 
Wyoming, from which with his glasses he ob- 
served the settlers leave the fort and go into the* 
fields in detached parties at a distance to their 
work. He concluded to attack them in this situ- 
ation unprovided with arms, and accordingly divi- 
ded his forces into several detachments which 
commenced their attacks nearly at the same time. 
The working parties were immediately dispersed 
in every direction, and many of them were taken 

H 



Stf SKETCH OF TM-JB 

prisoners and sent under an escort to Eastoa Jail ) 
the greater number succeeded in reaching the 
Fort where they immediately prepared for their 
defence. Night was approaching and Ogden did 
not think proper to attack the Fort. He accor- 
dingly removed his troops with their booty to their 
encampment at Solomon's Gap. A consultation 
was held in Fort Durkee, and it was concluded 
as they had provision and ammunition to last 
Home time, to send messengers to Coshutunk on 
the Delaware, for assistance. Accordingly about 
midnight the messengers departed, and thinking 
that Ogden and his party would be likely to guard 
the direct road to Coshutunk, they concluded to go 
out through Solomon's Gap. Ogden's party, for 
their better security had encamped without fires, 
and took the messengers prisoners in the Gap ; they 
learned from them the confused situation of the 
Fort, filled with men, women and children. Up- 
on receiving this intelligence they concluded to 
make an immediate attack upon the Fort. Ac- 
cordingly Ogden's whole force was immediately 
put in motion., and a detachment commanded by 
Capt. Craig suddenly entered the fort under cover 
bi the night, knocked down the centinel and arri- 
ved at the door of the block-house before the gar- 
rison received notice of the attack. Several of the 
latter were killed in attempting to make resistance 
in the block-house, and Capt. Craig's men having 
forced a number into a small room where they were 
trampling upon the women and children, knocked 
down Capt. Butler and were about to pierce hjtij 



HISTORY OF WYOMING* %? 

with their bayonets, when Capt. Craig himself en- 
tered the apartment, drove the soldiers back and 
prevented further bloodshed. The Fort being thus 
taken, the principal portion of the garrison were 
again sent to prison at Easton, but Capt. Butler 
and a few others were conducted to Philadelphia 
where they were confined. 

Ogden and his party then plundered the settle- 
ment of whatever moveable property they could 
find, and having formed a garrison in the Fort, 
withdrew with his booty to the settlements below 
the mountains where most of his men resided. — 
The Connecticut party having disappeared, the 
garrison considered themselves as secure, the Fort 
being in a good state of defence ; but on the 18th 
ef December about 3 o'clock in the morning, 
while the garrison were asleep, a body of armed 
men, consisting of twenty-three persons from Han- 
over in Lancaster county, and six from New 
England, under the command of Capt. Lazarus 
Stewart, suddenly entered the fort and gave the 
alarm to the garrison by a general huzza for King 
George. The garrison at this time consisted of 
only eighteen men besides a considerable number 
of women and children, who occupied several hou- 
ses erected within the ramparts of the Fort. Six 
of the men made their escape by leaping from the 
parapet, and flying naked to the woods ; the re- 
maining twelve were taken prisoners, who, with 
the women and children, after being deprived of 
their moveable property, were driven from the Val- 
ley, and Stewart and his party garrisoned the F< \ 



38 SKETCH OF THE 



CHAPTER HI. 

Port Durkee besieged — Nathan Ogden killed—- 
Fort Durkee abandoned — Wyoming Fort built 
and besieged— Amos Ogden escapes from the 
Fori— Pennsylvania Garrison re-enforced by 
troops under Col, Clayton, Wyoming Fori 
surrendered to the Connecticut forces — Civil Go- 
vernment established at Wyoming as a separate 
Colony — With esbarre built — Connecticut sen t Is 
Commissioners to treat with Pennsylvania-— Ne- 
gotiations on that subject — Wyoming settlements 
apply to be taken under the protection of Con- 
necticut— Civil Government established there by 
■Connecticut — Connecticut settlement on the West 
Branch of the Susquehanna destroyed — War 
ivith England — Wyoming settlers apply to Con- 
gress — Resolutions of that body — PlunkcPs ex- 
pedition to Wyoming — Invasion by the British 
and Indians — Battle and Massacre of Wyoming. 
• — JVilkesbarre burnt — Skirmish at Laurel Pun 
■ — Arrival of General Sullivan's army— His vic- 
tory over the Indians — Decree at Trenton — 
Pennsylvania Commissioners sent to Wyoming 
— Great Ice-freshet — Inhabitants of Wyoming 
drivenfrom their settlements by Pennsylvania 
troops— Murder of Pierce and Garret — GarrU 
son formed at Forty-Fort, 

Frontier warfare has been in all ages and in all 
countries much the same, an irregular and unre- 
strained exhibition of the human passions : and the 
reader will observe m the troubles at Wyoming, 



HISTOltY OF WYOMING. 89 

and the " border wars" of former times, as great 
a similarity as tlie situation of the country, and the 
improvements in the art of war, would permit. 
Fort Durkee, and Ogden's block-house, like two 
ancient Castles, became alternately the property 
of the victorious party, and an indiscriminate plun- 
der was the consequence of a defeat. 

After Ogden's house had been plundered and 
consumed, the Judges of the Supreme Court of 
Pennsylvania issued warrants for the arrest of Laz- 
arus Stewart, Lazarus Young and Zebulon But- 
ler, for the crime of arson, and in pursuance of 
one of these warrants Stewart was arrested in Leb- 
anon, Pennsylvania ; but a number of his asso- 
ciates being near, and hearing of his arrest, sud- 
denly rode into the town under arms to rescue him, 
and on their approach Stewart knocked down the 
Constable and joined his companions, who having 
bid defiance to the civil authority of the village, de- 
liberately departed with Stewart at their head. 
Information being now received that Stewart and 
Iiis party were in possession of Fort Durkee, a new 
warrant was issued by Thomas Willing, Esq. a 
Judge of the Supreme Court, for his apprehension,' 
directed to Peter Hacklein, Esq. Sheriff of North- 
ampton County, who raised a posse and proceeded 
to Wyoming, where he arrived on the 18th. of Jan- 
uary, 1771, and demanded admittance into the 
Fort. Stewart informed him from the parapet 
that none but friends could be admitted ; that Wy- 
oming was under the jurisdiction of Connecticut, 
and that he should recognize no authority whater* 

H* 



-"-' SKETCH OE THE. 

er ih any persons acting under commissions from 
the Government of Pennsylvania. The approach 
*»f night closed this parley, and the Sheriff and his 
posse withdrew to a new block-house which Ogden 
and his party had began to build. Finding that a 
siege would perhaps be necessary, the next day 
(being Sunday,) the Sheriff and his posse assisted 
i )gden in completing and fortifying his block-house. 
On Monday morning Nathan Ogden accompanied 
(lie Sheriff and his passe to the Fort, when admit- 
tance was again demanded and refused, upon 
which Ogden and his party commenced a fire upon 
the Ytvi. The lire was immediately returned by 
which Ogden was killed, and three others wound- 
ed. The Sheriff and his posse, having secured the 
body of Ogden, withdrew to the block-house to 
consult upon further measures, which occupied 
the day ; and during the following night Stewart 
and about forty of his party abandoned the Fort, 
leaving it in the possession of twelve men who the 
next day surrendered to the Sheriff and his posse.. 
Urov. Perm in his message to the General Assem- 
bly represents this transaction as a most treach- 
erous murder, and by their recommendation offer- 
ed a reward of three hundred pounds for the appre- 
hension of Lazarus Stewart. The Sheriff having 
:■ tven possession of the Fort to Amos Ogden, with- 
drew with his prisoners to Easton, and Ogden 
formed a garrison and induced most of his former 
associates to return to their possessions. Affairs 
there continued quiet until the 6th* of July when 
upwards of seventy of the, Connecticut party armed 



HISTORY OF WYOMING. 91 

and under the command of Captain Zebulon But 
ler, joined by a party under the command of Capt. 
Lazarus Stewart, returned to Wyoming to recoy* 
er possession of their lands. Ogden and his partv. 
consisting of men, women and children, amounted 
at that time to eighty-two persons, who immedi- 
ately took refuge in the Fort and prepared for the, 
defence. This was a new Fort built on the bank 
of the River a short distance above Fort Durkee to 
which Ogden had given the name of Wyoming 
Fort. On the night of the 9th. of July the Connec- 
ticut party commenced the erection of two small 
redoubts ; one on the bank of the river a little be- 
low and within musket shot of the Fort — the other 
on the point of a hill a short distance above the 
Fort, having command of the river. These en- 
trenchments were so far completed by day-break 
as to afford protection to the detachments occupied 
in their construction. The following day two oth* 
er entrenchments were formed, one on the West 
side of the river opposite the Fort, and the other 
further up the bill on the East side. A few days 
afterwards re-enforcements arrived to the Connec- 
ticut party which then amounted to about one hun- 
dred and fifty effective men. Wyoming Fort was 
by these means completely invested, and all coirr- 
munication with the surrounding country entirely 
cut off 5 but the garrison possessed the means of 
defending themselves as long as their provisions 
and ammunition should last. Ogden who was ig- 
norant of t ie actual strength of the Connecticut 
party, seeing himself thus besieged without any 



Q£ SKETCH OF THE 

prospect of escape or of receiving supplies, and 
knowing the necessity of conveying intelligence 
and applying for assistance, to the Government o 
Pennsylvania, resolved upon an attempt, which, 
for resolution and courage may vie with the most 
celebrated individual actions of modern times.- 
On the night of the 12th. of July, he escaped from 
the Fort by the following means. Having tied a 
portion of his clothes in a bundle, with his hat upon 
the top of them, and having connected them to his 
body by a cord of several feet in length, he com- 
mitted himself to the river, and floated gently- 
down the current, with the bundle following him 
at the end of the cord. Three of the redoubts 
commanded the river for a considerable distance, 
above and below, and the centinels by means of the 
star-light observing some object floating upon the 
river which excited suspicion, commenced a fire 
upon it, which was continued from two of the re- 
doubts for some time, until observing that its mo- 
tion was very uniform and no faster than the cur- 
rent, their suspicions and their tiring ceased. Og- 
den escaped unhurt, but his clothes and hat were 
pierced with several balls. He arrived at Phila- 
delphia on the 15th. and immediately communica- 
ted to the Council the unpleasant situation of the 
little Colony at Wyoming. 

On the following day the Council resolved 
** That an hundred men should be hired to accom- 
pany the Sheriff to Wyoming for the purpose afore- 
said, and that a quantity of provisions should be 
immediately provided ift town and sent up t£ 



HISTORY OF WYOMING. 9£ 

Northampton $ M and " in order to defray the ex- 
penses which must necessarily arise, the Receive? 
General may be justified in paying the drafts o£ 
this Board for £300.* 

The troops thus hired for the reduction of Wy- 
oming were placed under the command of Colonel 
A slier Clayton ; and two divisions, one command- 
ed by Capt Joseph Morris, and the other by Capt. 
John Dick, were to march at different times 
through the swamp. While measures were taking 
to raise these troops, which it was found very dif- 
ficult to accomplish, the siege of Wyoming Fort 
was conducted with unabated rigor. Col. Dick 
having succeeded in collecting thirty-one men, af- 
ter receiving the provisions of nearly a hundred^ 
set out with a number of pack-horses loaded with 
provisions for Wyoming, where he arrived on 
Tuesday the 30th, of July about the dawn of day. 
The Connecticut party had been apprised of his 
approach, and they had formed an ambuscade near 
the Fort to interrupt his march and secure the pro- 
visions, and as Capt. Dick and his men advanced 
they were fired upon from the bushes, and thrown 
into great confusion. Twenty two of them suc- 
ceeded in getting into the Fort, and the remainder, 
with four horses loaded with provisions fell into the 
hands of the Connecticut party. After the arrival 
of Capt. Dick the garrison consisted of forty-nine 
men able to bear arms, two wounded men, and 
forty-eight women and children. Upon this gar- 



*See minutes of Council,, Baok U, page 209, 



94 SKETCH 0E THE 

risona fire was Commenced on the same day from 
four batteries or redoubts, and continued without 
much intermission until the night of f the 10th of 
August. On the 11th. Capt. Butler sent a flag 
demanding a surrender of the Fort, but the garrir 
son having promptly refused to comply with the 
demand, the attack again commenced with a wood- 
en cannon, which burst at the second discharge. 
The garrison were induced to hold out under the 
hope of receiving re-enforcements ; for in addition 
to those who were expected to follow the detach- 
ment which had arrived, Capt. Dick had succeed- 
ed in despatching a messenger immediately after 
his arrival with an account of their situation ; and 
ihe Executive Council after considering his letter 
ordered that one hundred additional men be raised 
with the utmost expedition, and the President im- 
mediately advanced ^6300 to defray the expenses 
of the enterprize. The Fort continued to be close- 
ly besieged and the firing continued from day to 
day whenever any person appeared upon the ram- 
parts. The garrison had for many days been upon 
very short allowance, as the small quantity of 
provisions with which Capt. Dick succeeded in en- 
tering the Fort, served only as a temporary relief 
On the 14th. of August, their pi'ovisions being all 
exhausted and no appearance of supplies, it was 
concluded to surrender the Fort to the Connecti- 
cut party, and articles of capitulation were agreed 
upon by which Col. Clayton and his troops, and 
©gden and his party should all remove- from W^ 
omiug. 



&ISTOR^ QT WYOMING. 95 

During the siege a number oi persons were woun- 
ded in the Fort, and among others Amos Ogden, 
who being faint from the loss of blood, was recli- 
ning upon William Ridyard his junior officer, 
when a shot from the redoubt on the West bank 
of the river, entered the door of the block-house 
and instantly killed Ridyard who was the only 
person killed during the siege. The number of 
killed and wounded among the Connecticut party 
was not ascertained. A re-enforcement of sixty 
men under the command of C apt. Andrew Ledlie, 
were sent by the Government of Pennsylvania for 
the relief of the garrison, and when the Fort sur 
rendered they had advanced within ten miles of 
Wyoming, and were encamped upon a stream on 
the mountain called (i Ten mile Run." Having 
at this place received information that the Fort 
was closely besieged, and that it would then be 
impracticable to enter with their provisions, Capt, 
Ledlie had concluded to send a quantity of Flour 
by way of the Lackawannock ten miles above the 
Fort, and to cross the river with a part of his forces, 
and commence an attack upon the block-house on 
the West side of the river. It was expected that 
this attack would draw the attention of the Con- 
necticut party to the defence of that post, and 
give an opportunity for the escort with the prison- 
ers to enter the Fort and relieve the garrison ; but 
just as this measure was about to be attempted, in- 
formation was received that the garrison had sur- 
rendered to the Connecticut forces. Capt. Ledlie 
then concluded to place guards upon the Shohola 



96 SKETCH Of THE 

and Minisink reads to pi the arrival cf more 

troops from New England, and to . se 

stations until further 01 den ' ] j >f 

Council, in his i ta to the Gei ly 

of Pennsylvania on the 1 8th. of Sep 1 
gave ax d ace >unt of these transactions 

the conclusion of which, he says : 

** At length our people reduced to the last ex- 
tremity it of provisions, were obliged to sur- 

render tip m terms of capitulation. Since which 
it is reported that the intruders have burnt the 
block-house and are fortifying themselves at a more 
Convenient place in the neighborhood, and that 
<£hey have intentions of seizing on Fort Augusta^ 
and the Provincial cannon, and other warlike 
stores there." 

The Council were of opinion that it was proper 
to open a correspondence with the Government of 
Connecticut on the subject of the late events at 
Wyomir.g. Accordingly the President, James 
Hamilton, Esq. in a letter to Governor Trumbull 
of Connecticut dated Philadelphia, Oct. 4, 1771. 
alter giving an account of these transactions, says: 

" As the people concerned in these violent and 
hostile measures profess to act under Hit authority 
of your Government, and have made a capitu- 
lation expressly on behalf of the Government 
I have thought it proper and expedient to send 



*See Ledlie's despatches of Aug. 15, 1773 ? - on 
file in Secretary's office. 
,-, Sunljurr. 



lUSTURY 01? WYOMING. W 

a messenger to your honor on purpose to know 
with certainty whether they have proceeded in any 
sort under your countenance or authority or that 
of your Assembly, and as this must be a matter 
within your knowledge I make no doubt but you 
will despatch the express with a speedy answer." 

Governor Trumbull in his answer dated at New 
Haven, Oct. 14, 1771, among other things, says: 

" The persons concerned in those transactions 
have no order and direction from me, or from the 
General Assembly of the Colony, for their pro- 
ceeding upon this occasion, and I am very confi- 
dent that the General Assembly, friends as they 
ever have been to peace and good order, will never 
countenance any violent, much less hostile meas- 
ures, in vindicating the right which the Susque- 
hanna Company suppose they have to the lands in 
that part of the country within the limits of the 
Charter of this Colony. " 

He then proceeds to inform President Hamilton 
that he understands each of the contending parties 
at Wyoming charge the other with having been the 
first aggressors, and that it is not his province to 
determine between them. Governor Trumbull 
communicated this correspondence to the General 
Assembly which met the same month. 

The Government of Pennsylvania, finding that 
the Connecticut forces had strongly fortified them- 
selves at Wyoming, and that their numbers rapid 
ly increased, gave orders for withdrawing their 
troops, and left the Connecticut party in quiet 
possession of the Valley. 

I 



^T$ SKETCH 0¥ THE 

The long contested plains of Wyoming appeared 
again to enjoy a season of peace, and the inhabit- 
ants began to feel the necessity of some system of 
civil Government, that which had hitherto existed 
being of a military nature. Accordingly a memo- 
rial was presented to the General Assembly of 
Connecticut by agents sent for that purpose, rep- 
resenting that the differences which then subsisted 
between the American Colonies and the Govern- 
ment of Great Britain, would undoubtedly pre- 
vent his majesty from granting a Charter of Gov- 
ernment to the Susquehanna Company agreeably 
to the recommendation and resolution of the Gen- 
eral Assembly in 1755 ; and as the settlements 
then subsisting on the Susquehanna under the Com- 
pany's authority, were not sufficiently strong to 
defend themselves against powerful enemies, they 
prayed that they might be taken under the protection 
of the Government of Connecticut, and participate 
in a certain degree in her political institutions un- 
til his majesty's further pleasure might be known. 
The agents having returned to Wyoming reported 
that the Government of Connecticut had taken into 
consideration the situation of the Wyoming Colo- 
ny, and had advised, first: to attempt a settlement 
with the Proprietaries of Pennsylvania of all sub- 
jects in dispute ; which negociation the Govern- 
ment of Connecticut would undertake on behalf of 
ihe Colony of Wyoming ; and should this negocia- 
tion fail of success, they would apply to his majes- 
ty for a legal settlement of the controversy with 
Pennsylvania, whenever present disturbances be- 



HISTORY OF WYOMING. 99 

t ween the Colonies and the mother country should 
be settled, and in the mean time the inhabitants of 
the Colony of Wyoming should protect and govern 
themselves in the manner they might think most 
advisable. In pursuance of these views the in- 
habitants of Wyoming, commonly called the 
44 Settlers^" proceeded to establish a Government 
for themselves. They laid out Townships, form- 
ed settlements, erected fortifications, levied and 
collected taxes, passed laws for the direction of 
civil suits, and for the punishment of crimes and 
misdemeanors, established a militia, and provided 
for the common defence and general welfare of the 
Colony. Neither the Grecian nor the Roman 
States in their proudest days of republicanism could 
t>oast of a Government more purely Democratic 
than was now established at Wyoming. The su-< 
prerae power vested (where nature has placed it in 
all Governments,) in the whole body of the people, 
and it was exercised, not by representation, but 
by a majority of votes in a full meeting of all the 
citizens who chose to attend for that purpose.-— 
This meeting was called " The Meeting of the 
Proprietors, " and it formed the grand Council of 
the Colony to which an appeal was in all cases re- 
served. *' The Meeting of the Proprietors'" chose 
a President for each sitting, called a " Moderator, V 
and their proceedings were recorded in a book, by 
a clerk chosen also for one meeting only. This 
record formed the " Statute Book," and was kept 
by the clerk of the last meeting. The meeting of 
the Proprietaries held no stated or periodical sc - 



J 00 SKETCH OF THE 

ion, but assembled only whenever business made 
it necessary. The Executive power was vested in 
a Committee, consisting of one person from each 
Township in which settlements were commenced^ 
They were called the " Committee of Settlers,'* 
and were authorized to decide upon all matters of 
minor importance both civil and criminal, and to 
call " The Meeting of the Proprietors" whenever 
they thought proper. 

The Judicial power was placed in three Courts, 
all having civil and criminal jurisdiction. The 
highest or Supreme Court, was " The Meeting of 
the Proprietors," to whom an appeal lay in all ca- 
ses, and where the merits of each case were sub- 
ject to revision, and all judgments, to correction. 
The second, or Executive Court, was the " Com- 
mittee of Settlers," who corrected and entered 
Judgments, and issued writs of execution. The 
common, or Ordinary Court, consisted of Three 
Freeholders, who were, in the first instance, to 
decide all controversies arising between any two or 
more individuals in their respective townships, and 
make a return of their award to the " Committee 
of Settlers," who issued execution to the proper 
Constable. A Constable for each Township was 
chosen at " The Meeting of the Proprietors."* 
Such was the system of Government established at 
Wyoming ; imperfect like every other system in 
its origin. After a trial of two years it was found 
necessary to make certain alterations } and to in? 



* Westmoreland Records. 



HISTORY OF WYOMING. 101 

iroduce some new provisions which should render 
" The Meetings of the Proprietors" less frequent 
on appeals. Accordingly at a full meeting of the 
Proprietors and Settlers, held at Wilkesbarre on 
the 8th. day of July 1773, various alterations were 
adopted in their system, and the whole drawn into 
a regular form, " For the well ordering and gov- 
" erningthe Proprietors and Settlers on the Sus- 
i6 quehanna Purchase." 

The most important alteration, was the appoint- 
ment of a 4 ' Board of Directors," in the place of 
the " Committee of Settlers," and a Sheriff and 
other officers provided for. All the Proprietors 
and Settlers were required to subscribe their names 
to these articles of agreement which were to form 
their Original Compact and to be received as their 
Constitution of Government. Those who refused 
to do so were deprived of their lands, and com- 
pelled to remove from the country.* Several of 
the laws passed at this time bear the appearance of 
great severity, but may have been justified by the 
circumstances of the times. One in particular pass- 
ed at Wilkesbarre on the 28th day of December, 
1772, which provided " That no person or per- 
sons, settlers or foreigners, coming into this 
" place, shall at any time hereafter sell or give to 
*'any Indian or Indians any spirituous liquors., 
'" 4 on the forfeiture of all such liquors and the 
" whole of their goods and chattels, rights and ef* 

*Westmoreland Records. Some instances of 
this occurred. 



102 SKETCH OF THE 

44 fects that they shall have on this purchase, and 
66 also be voted out of this Company unless upon 
"some extraordinary occasion, such as sickness, 
" &c. without leave first had and obtained from 
* i the Com mittee. ' ' 

The whole body of citizens capable of bearing 
arms, was formed into a militia, of which a list of 
those in each township constituted a section, who 
did garrison duty in the forts, and took their tour 
upon guard in regular succession. 

The Proprietors were the owners of the whole 
purchase which extended one hundred and ten 
miles west of the Susquehanna River, and was 
about one hundred miles in width North and South. 
This territory, or a great portion of it, was laid 
oil* into townships, generally five miles square, 
and except in the vicinity of the Susquehanna riv- 
er, these townships formed regular ranges, exten- 
ding East and West through the whole purchase ; 
they were surveyed into lots of different sizes, of 
which a certain quantity was called a right or share, 
and a less quantity, an hcdf-share. They were 
•old under various terms and conditions, and the 
proceeds of the sales went into the treasury of the 
Company. A town was laid out immediately ad- 
joining the Wyoming Fort, by Col. Durkee, who 
gave it the united names of Wilkes and Barre, two 
distinguished members of the British Parliament, 
conspicuous for their devotion to the rights of the 
American Colonies. 

While these peaceful measures were progressing 
tfce General Assembly of Connecticut passed res- 



HISTORY OF WYOMING. 108 

olutions declaring their intention to support their 
claim to the lands within the limits of their Charter 
West of i}\e Province of New York, and appoint- 
ing Commissioners to negociate a settlement of all 
disputes with the Proprietaries of Pennsylvania, 
and an Act giving full powers to the Commission- 
ers to make a final settlement of all boundaries 
and claims in dispute. 

The Commissioners, having received their full 
powers, proceeded to Philadelphia in December 
1773, and having produced their credentials, pre- 
sented to G>v. Penn a letter from Gov. Trumbull 
of Connecticut, dated at Lebanon the £2d. of No- 
vember 1773, in which, among other things, he says : 

" The case hath been stated and council of the 
first eminence in Great Britain consulted on the 
right and title of the Governor and Company of 
the Colony of Connecticut to the lands within the 
limits and bounds of their Patent lying westward 
of tlie Province of New York. Notwithstanding 
the several settlements of the boundaries between 
the Colony on the East and the Province on the 
West, made, as well by agreement between the 
parties, as under the royal authority, and not- 
withstanding the subsequent Charter to Sir Will- 
iam Penn, their opinion is in favor of the Govern- 
or and Company of such lands. The General As- 
sembly of this Colony, holden at New Haven in 
October last, resolved to make their claim to those 
lands, and in a legal manner support the same. 
Thereupon Col. Dyer, Doct. Johnson and Mr* 
Strong are duly appointed and commissioned to 



104 SKETCH OP THE 

treat with your honor and the agent or agents of 
the Proprietaries of Pennsylvania on that subject; 
and further to consult and agree with you upon 
such measures as shall tend to preserve peace and 
good order among the inhabitants on such lands.,- 
and prevent mutual violence and contention during 
the time the boundaries between this Colony and 
your Province remain undetermined ■' 

" We do not doubt the compliance of the Pro- 
prietaries of Pennsylvania to a legal and constitu- 
tional decision of the case in question, nor your 
willingness to agree on proper measures to pre- 
serve peace and good order in the mean time*" 

The Commissioners at the same time communi- 
cated the proceedings of the General Assembly of 
Connecticut relative to the controversy. The 
Council of Pennsylvania having taken these mat- 
ters into consideration, on the 15th. of December, 
made a request in writing that the Connecticut 
Commissioners should state the limits of the Con- 
necticut claim in a written declaration. This was 
complied with on the same day, in which declara- 
tion the Commissioners state that they were direc- 
ted " To negociate rather a mode of obtaining an 
amicable settlement of the controversy between 
the Colony and the Proprietaries, than an actual 
and precise settlement of the boundaries between 
them. We therefore apprehend that the claim on 
the part of the Colony of Connecticut is to the pur- 
pose of the negociation with which we are charged, 
sufficiently designated in the Act of Assembly now 
before you 5 but as ^e bring with us the most six*- 



HISTORY OF WYOMING. 105 

cere dispositions to effect if possible an amicable 
settlement of this controversy, that we may give 
every facility in our power towards the accomplish- 
ment of so desirable an object, we will further 
mention to you that the title to the lands in ques- 
tion on the part of the Colony of Connecticut is 
principally founded upon the royal Charter to the 
Governor and Company of that Colony from his 
late majesty King Charles the second, dated at 
Westminster, Anno. 1662, the boundaries of which 
are thus expressed, viz: [Here follows the des- 
cription of the boundaries mentioned in the Charter 
as given in the second chapter.] Which limits and 
boundaries do include a considerable part of the 
lands afterwards granted by the crown to Sir Will- 
iam Penn in 1681, and which constitute apart of 
the Province of Pennsylvania, as now claimed by 
the Proprietaries ; but what part in certain of those 
lands are so contained within the limits of the prior 
Patent to Connecticut can now be known only by 
actually running and ascertaining the lines of that 
Patent, which we conceive will be best done by 
Commissioners mutually appointed by the Colony 
and the honorable Proprietaries, and we on the part 
of the Colony are now ready to agree to such Com- 
missioners who shall be authorised to execute the 
same in the most effectual manner as soon as possi- 
ble." 

Gov. Penn, in his answer to the letter of the 
Commissioners, dated Philadelphia, Dec. 17, 
1773, after mentioning the uncertainty of the limits 
of the Connecticut Charter as well as many other 



iQO SKETCH OF THE 

©f the New England grants, and referring fo the 
settlement of the line from the mouth of Mamava- 
Bak river to be the western bounds of Connecticut^ 
says: " Being clearly of opinion for these and ma- 
ny other reasons that the present claim made by 
jour Government of any lands westward of the 
Province of New York is without the least founda- 
tion, you cannot reasonably expect that I should 
accept of the proposal of ' settling and ascertaining 
the boundaries between the Colony of Connecticut 
and the Province,' or enter with you into a nego- 
tiation on that subject, nor can I with any propri- 
ety agree to the alternative proposed in the Act of 
Assembly of your Colony which you have laid be- 
fore me, namely: ' That if we cannot agree amica- 
bly to ascertain these boundaries, then to join in 
an application to his majesty to appoint commis- 
sioners for that purpose.' ? ? 

Several communications afterwards passed be- 
tween the Commissioners and Gov. Penn, calcu- 
lated on their part to pursuade to a negociation and 
on the part of the Governor to prevent it. To 
give the whole of this correspondence would swell 
this chapter beyond its intended size, and would 
form perhaps, to many persons, an uninteresting 
detail ; but as this was an early and sincere attempt 
on the part of the Colony and actual settlers, to 
adjust and settle all disputes amicably, an extract 
from it is given that the reader may see the manner 
and spirit with which the correspondence was con- 
ducted. The Commissioners, in a long letter to 
the Governor, dated Dec, 18., 177 3 9t in which the 



HISTORY OF WYOMING. 1Q& 

subject of the controversy is extensively embraced^ 
say: " 

" There is a clear distinction between a claim 
and a right, and however ill founded the claim of 
{he Colony may by you be imagined to be, yet that it 
is an existing claim cannot be denied — and how 
the admission of such claim, so far as to negociate- 
uponit, to attempt to settle it, or to join in an ap- 
plication to his majesty for an adjudication upon 
.it, can in any respect prejudice the right, we can* 
not comprehend. 

46 We apprehend that your honor is much mis- 
taken in imagining that the settlement of the line 
between the Colony of Connecticut and the grant 
to the duke of York in 1664, was in any degree 
occasioned by the uncertainty of the bounds and 
extent of the Charter to Connecticut and the other 
New England grants. That determination had 
another and a very different foundation, viz: the 
possession on the part of the Dutch of that territo- 
ry which was afterwards granted to the duke of 
York 5 a possession which occasioned its being ex- 
cepted out of the original grant to the Council of 
Plymouth, and in fact prevented its being ever ves* 
ted in the crown until the conquest thereof by Col. 
Nichols in August 1664. As that territory there- 
fore was not in 1662 in the crown to grant, no 
part of it could pass by the Patent to Connecticut, 
and it became absolutely necessary after the con- 
quest and the grant to the duke of York, to ascer- 
tain what extent of territory had been so possessed 
by the Dutch and excepted out of the ancient grant 



108 SKETCH OP THE 

of the crown. The settlement by that Court was 
therefore " only to determine what part of the 
country the duke of York was entitled to in virtue 
of the Dutch possessions. " In the same letter the 
Commissioners go on to propose that a temporary 
line of jurisdiction shall be agreed upon, which 
shall leave the settlers at Wyoming under the Go- 
vernment of Connecticut, during the continuance 
of the war then subsisting with Great Britain ; and 
the settlers on the West branch of the Susquehan- 
na river, who were then under the Government of 
Pennsylvania, they proposed should remain so, un- 
til the termination of the war, when further meas- 
ures might be adopted to effect a settlement of the 
controversy. 

Gov. Penn, in his answer to this letter of the 
Commissioners dated Dec. 23, among other things, 
says: " As I cannot for reasons assigned accede 
to your proposal of a temporary line of jurisdic- 
tion, so neither can I foresee any means that appear 
to me likely to effectuate peace and order, and to 
prevent for the future such violent outrages as 
have been lately perpetrated in that part of the 
country where the people of Connecticut are now 
settled, but their entirely evacuating the lands in 
their possession until a legal decision of our con- 
troversy can be obtained.*' 

He then in the same letter proposes that the Col- 
ony of Connecticut shall apply to the King, and 
Assures them that the Proprietaries will meet the 
subject in presence of his majesty, but that if they 
do not think proper to do so, the Proprietaries of 



HISTORY OF WYOMING. 109 

Pennsylvania will apply to him for a decision on 
their chums. In their answer to this part or" Gov. 
Penn's letter, the Commissioners advert to then 
proposal of applying jointly to the King ; but ob- 
ject to apply separately because that on so impor- 
tant a subject they do not think that his majesty 
\vould come to a decision without first directing a 
board of Commissioners to examine the facts in 
America which would produce much delay and 
expense, and probably be postponed until after the 
war* &c. The Governor, in his letter, had allu- 
ded to some former sales of the Susquehanna 
lands to the Proprietaries by certain Indians, and 
in answer to this the Commissioners say, " It 
were easy to observe that the purchases from the 
Indians by the Proprietaries, and the sales by them 
made, were they even more ancient than they are, 
could add no strength to the Proprietary title, since 
the right of pre-emption of the natives was by the 
royal grant exclusively vested in the Colony of Con- 
necticut, and consequently those purchases and 
sales were equally without any legal foundation, 
Thay could neither acquire any right by the one, 
nor transfer any title by the other, but that both 
the one and the other have been too recent to be 
the ground of any argument, since we are advised 
that the Proprietaries made no purchase of the na- 
tives of any consequence to this dispute prior to 
the treaty of Fort Stanwix," (A. D. 1768.) The 
Governor had also suggested an objection to the 
Connecticut claim, upon the ground cfan imprac- 
ticability in the Colony to exercise jurisdiction 

J 



110 BKETCH OF THE 

over a country extending from the Atlantic to th$ 
Pacific ocean. To this objection the Commission* 
ers reply that it is a question of policy, not a ques- 
tion of right, and should not be agitated at this 
time ; but that the Connecticut grant even under 
that view appears no more objectionable than the 
grant of so large a territory as Pennsylvania to one 
person. They conclude by saying that both here 
and in Europe they had offered, and they now repeat 
the offer, to submit all matters in dispute to a com- 
petent tribunal and to be concluded by the decis- 
ion. These offers however, proved unavailing 
and the Commissioners returned to Connecticut 
without having effected the object of their mission. 
The particulars of this Conference were laid before 
the General Assembly of Pennsylvania on the 29th, 
of Dec. 1773, and on the 18th. of January follow- 
ing, the Assembly passed an address to the Gov- 
ernor, in winch, among other things, they say : — 

" To prevent the mischievous effects of this 
unkind and unneighborly disposition in the Govern- 
ment of Connecticut, we beg leave earnestly to re- 
quest that you will pursue every effectual measure 
to call the claimants before his majesty in Council 
and to bring their claim to an immediate decision." 

Measures were accordingly taken for that pur- 
pose, but his majesty had now claims of a differ- 
ent and more important nature to decide with his 
American subjects, all of which were eventually set- 
tled by his acknowledgement of their independence. 

After the Connecticut Commissioners had made 

report of the failure of the negcciation with the 
Proprietaries of Pennsylvania, the Susquehanna 



HISTORY OP WYOMING. Ill 

Company represented to the General Assembly of 
Connecticut that as all hope of being erected into 
a separate Colony at Wyoming by special Charter 
from the King was now lost, in consequence of the 
existing war with Great Britain, and, as the set- 
tlement at Wyoming was not sufficiently powerful 
to protect itself in a state of war against the Prov- 
ince of Pennsylvania on the one hand, and the 
combined British and savage enemies on the other, 
they requested that those settlements might be ta- 
ken under the protection of the Colony of Connec- 
ticut — be considered as a part of that Colony— and 
be subject generally to its laws and jurisdiction. 

The General Court having taken these repre- 
sentations into consideration, passed an Act in 
January, 1774, by which the country extending 
from the river Delaware westward fifteen miles 
beyond Wyoming, and in extent North and South 
the whole width of the Charter bounds, was erec- 
ted into a separate Town to be called " West- 
moreland," and annexed to the county of Litch- 
field. By this Act all persons were forbid from 
settling upon any lands within the limits of the 
Connecticut Colony westward of the Province of 
New York, except under the authority of that 
Colony ; and Zebulon Butler, Esq. and Nathan 
Denison, Esq. were appointed Justices of the 
Peace, and directed to call a town meeting for the 
election of other officers. In pursuance of the 
provisions of this act, a general meeting of the in- 
habitants of Wyoming was held, and their civil 
officers were elected ; and from this time Wyo 



3 12 SKETCH OE THE 

ming ceased to exist as a separate Republic, the 
laws of Connecticut being exercised over the coun- 
try in fall force. A special court was established 
for the trial of certain causes which it would be in- 
convenient to try at Litchfield, and the inhabit- 
ants of Wyoming were represented in the Connect 
iicut Legislature by one member elected to the gen- 
eral court. The Act authorising these proceed- 
ings v/as communicated by the Governor of Con- 
necticut to Governor Penn and by him laid before 
the council on the 24th. of February, 1774, and 
on the 28th. of the same month, Governor Penn 
issued his Proclamation forbidding all persons from 
attending the town meeting or election then noti- 
ned by Zebulon Butler, and all other unlawful 
meetings, and also forbidding all persons from en- 
tering or settling any lands at Wyoming without 
consent of the Proprietors. But this Proclamation 
appears to have been regarded with as little atten- 
tion by the inhabitants of Wyoming as would have 
been a royal edict issued by the King of Spain. — 
Thus the war between the two parties appears to 
have been conducted during the year 1774, prin- 
cipally by means of civil acts and Proclamations — 
a system which has since been enlarged and im- 
proved by some of the modern nations of Europe. 

As those hostile measures which preceded the 
vigorous prosecution of the war between Great 
Britain and the American Colonies became more 
generally known, the influence of the Provincial 
Governors became less powerful, and as Govern- 
or Penn's Proclamations were not followed by any 



HISTORY OF WYOMING. 118 

warlike movements, the settlements at Wyoming 
enjoyed for a time under their Government a com- 
parative state of repose. Many new townships were 
laid out, and the settlements considerably extend- 
ed ; but while these measures were peacefully 
progressing, a settlement, which had been com- 
menced by the Susquehanna Company on the West 
Branch of the Susquehanna river, was attacked on 
the 28th. of September, 1775, by a body of militia 
from the county of Northumberland, who, after 
killing one man and wounding several others, made 
prisoners of the remainder, and conveyed them to 
Sunbury. Several boats fronv Wyoming which 
carried on a trade down the river, were about this 
time plundered near Fort Augusta, and thus the 
flames of war were again re-kindled by the conten- 
ding parties. Wyoming however, was not at thi6 
time the only scene of contention. The differen- 
ces which had arisen between the Government oi 
Great Britain and the American Colonies, were 
in no degree removed — a powerful British force was 
stationed in Boston, the battle of Bunker's Hill 
had been fought, the town of Charleston reduced 
to ashes, and the whole continent threatened with 
hostile convulsions. A congress of Deputies from 
twelve of the Colonies and Provinces, had assem- 
bled the preceding year at New York to consult 
upon proper measures for their mutual defence, 
and another General Congress of Representatives 
from all the Colonies and Provinces, was to assem- 
ble about this time at Philadelphia fur the same 
purpose.. To this congress the Wyoming settlers 

J* 



114 SKETCH Or THE 

resolved to apply for protection, and a memorial 
and petition was accordingly presented, setting 
forth their complaints, and requesting that meas- 
ures might be adopted to preserve peace and tran- 
quility in their settlements. On the 4th of Novem- 
ber the congress took this memorial into considera- 
lion, and on motion, came to the following resolu- 
tion: 

" The congress, considering that the most per- 
fect union between all the Colonies is essentially 
necessary for the preservation of the just rights of 
North America, and being apprehensive that there, 
is great danger of hostilities being commenced at or 
near Wyoming between the inhabitants of the Col- 
ony of Pennsylvania and those of Connecticut : 

44 Resolved, That the Assemblies of the said 
Colonies be requested to take the most speedy and 
effectual steps to prevent such hostilities. 

; 4 Ordered, That Mr. M'Kean and Mr. Dean, 
wait upon the honorable house of Assembly of 
Pennsylvania now sitting with a copy of the above 
resolution. 

44 Ordered, That a copy of the said resolution 
be transmitted by express to the magistrates and 
people of Pennsylvania and Connecticut on the 
waters of the Susquehanna,"* 

This resolution, however, produced very little 
effect upon the Government of Pennsylvania, and 
although notified by express to the state authorities 
at Sunbury, still the settlers who had been taken 



See Journals of congress, vol. I. p. 215,. 



HISTOHY OF WrOMISTG. 115 

prisoners upon the West Branch were not set at 
liberty, but more closely confined than before, and 
many of the inhabitants of that town became much 
alarmed lest a detachment from Wyoming should 
at an unguarded moment set fire to the town and 
break open the prison. A representation of these 
fears was made to the Governor by William Piun- 
ket and others, who had shared the plunder upon 
the West Branch, setting forth that the settle- 
ments at Wyoming were daily increasing in 
strength- that a competent force could probably be 
raised at that time to subdue them, but that in an- 
other year they would probably be too strong, that 
the prison was full and continually in danger, and 
that should his honor be disposed to direct it, they 
were willing to undertake an expedition against 
Wyoming.* Orders were immediately issued by the 
Governor to Plunket, directing the " Posse" of 
the county to be raised, and conducted by the 
Sheriff to Wyoming to expel the Connecticut set- 
tlers from the country, but as the form of the pro- 
ceedings was to be of a civil and not of a military 
character, the orders were to " restore peace and 
good order in the county." In pursuance of these 
orders, a force of about seven hundred men was 
raised for the expedition 5 and a sufficient quanti- 
ty of arms, provisions and military stores having 
been procured, and placed on board of a large boat, 
the little army commenced its march from Fort 



*See Plunket's letter on file in the Secretary's 
office ? Harrisburg* 



116 SKETCH OF THE 

Augusta near Sunbury, about the beginning of 
December. Plunket, who, to his authority as ci- 
vil magistrate, added that of colonel of militia r had 
command of the expedition, but to preserve ap- 
pearances it was thought proper that William Cook, 
Sheriff, should accompany the troops to Wyoming.- 

Information of Plunket's march having been re- 
ceived in Philadelphia, where the American con- 
gress was then sitting, produced considerable sen- 
sation, as it was expected the resolution of con- 
gress would have prevented further proceedings 
against the Wyoming settlements. This effect not 
having been produced, the congress, on the 20th of 
December, passed the following preamble and 
resolution: 

" The congress taking into consideration the 
dispute between the people of Pennsylvania and 
Connecticut on the waters of the Susquehanna^ 
came to the following resolution: 

u Whereas a dispute subsists between some of 
the inhabitants of the Colony of Connecticut, set- 
tled under the claim of the said Colony on land 
near Wyoming on the Susquehanna river and in 
the Delaware country and the inhabitants settled 
under the claim of the Proprietors of Pennsylvania, 
which dispute it is apprehended will, if not su$» 
pended during the present troubles in the Colonies, 
be productive of pernicious consequences, which 
maybe very prejudicial to the common interest of 
the United Colonies, therefore, 

Resolved, That it is the opinion of this congress, 
and it is accordingly recommended, that the- con- 



HISTORY OF WYOMING. 117 

lending parties immediately cease all hostilities, 
and avoid every appearance of force until the dis- 
pute can be legally decided; That all property ta- 
ken and detained be immediately restored to the 
original owners ; That no interruption be given to 
either party to the free passing and re-passing of 
persons behaving themselves peaceably through the 
disputed territory, as well by land as by water 
without molestation of either persons or property 5 
That all persons seized and detained on account 
of said dispute on either side, be dismissed and 
permitted to go to their respective homes, and 
that things being put in the same situation they 
were before the late unhappy contest, they con- 
tinue to behave themselves peaceably on their res- 
pective possessions and improvements until a legal 
decision can be had on said dispute, or this con- 
gress shall take further order thereon, and nothing 
herein done shall be construed in prejudice of the 
claim of either party."* 

Notice of this resolution was immediately given 
to the respective parties, but it produced very lit- 
tle effect ; no counter orders were sent to Colonel 
Piunket, who continued his march very slowly up 
the Susquehanna. The provisions for the troops 
could be conveyed only by the boat, and as the 
march of the troops along the shore was necessarily 
regulated by its progress, and its ascent against 
the current very much impeded by floating ice, the 
expedition did not arrive at the foot of Nanticoke 



■See Journal of congress, vol. I. p. 279. 



H8 SKETCH of 'rtaB 

fells until the 24th. of December. At this place 
Plunket found the river so full of ice as to render 
the ascent of the falls impracticable ; and it was 
accordingly concluded to leave the boat at that 
place, to supply the men with provisions for a few 
days in their knapsacks, and to proceed with all 
possible expedition to the attack upon Wyoming 
Fort. Accordingly a small guard was left for the 
defence of the boat, and the troops commenced 
their march along the road leading through the gap 
of the mountain 1 into Wyoming Valley. On the 
West side of the river, at the point of the Shawa- 
nese mountain a short distance above Nanticoke 
falls, is a projecting rock, which lies in the form 
of an inclined plane descending towards the Val- 
ley, and extending its point towards the river. This 
rock presents down the river an abrupt precipitous 
front ; and has the road winding around the point 
of it* As Plunket advanced through the defile, 
this brow of the rock suddenly presented to his 
view a long rampart constructed by the Wyoming 
settlers, who had received notice of his approach, 
and who, rising from behind it, discharged a vofc 
Xsiy of musketry at his troops, which, on account 
of the distance, took little effect. Plunket' s troops 
were thrown into great confusion, and immediate- 
ly retreated behind the point of the mountain, 
where he again collected them to consult on what 
further measures should be pursued. With their 
boat they had brought a batteau for the greater 
convenience of crossing the river in difficult pla.- 
cee, and it was now resolved to bring the batteau 



HISTORY OF WYOMING. 119 

above the falls, and by means of it convey the 
troops in small parties across the river, under the 
protection of those on shore, and when the whole 
force should have thus crossed, to enter the Val- 
ley on the East side of the river. The Wyoming 
settlers, aware that this course might be attempted, 
had provided against it by placing a small detach- 
ment in the defile upon that side under the com- 
mand of Lieut. Stewart who lay with his men con- 
cealed in the thick woods on the bank of the river, 
and as Plunket and a few men were attempting to 
land from the batceau fired upon them, killed one 
man and it was supposed wounded some others, 
when they immediately pushed the boat from the 
shore, ami without attempting again to land iloated 
down through the falls, Plunket himself lying down 
in the batteau to escape the shots that were fired at 
him. The troops which remained upon the west- 
ern shore, observing that the fire upon the batteau 
proceeded from the bushes on the opposite bank, 
discharged a volley into them and killed one of the 
settlers of the name ofBowca. Plunket's troops 
then returned to their boat where they again held 
a consultation relative to future operations. To 
force the breastwork on the rock was deemed im- 
practicable — the amount of the force on the oppc 
site shore was unknown. To ascend the steep and 
rocky mountains against a force which could attain 
the summit before them, and thence precipitate 
jocks upon them, was considered equally imprac- 
ticable. To reduce Wyoming at one blow was no 
longer to be expected- — and as in a few days the. 



120 SKETCH OF THE 

river might close, and fasten their boats in the ice, 
in which case their situation would be extremely 
unpleasant, they concluded to abandon the enter- 
prise, and accordingly commenced their return 
down the river. Thus terminated the last milka-* 
ry enterprize ever undertaken by the Provincial 
Government of Pennsylvania. 

The fallowing year (1776) commenced a new 
era in the history of the American Colonies, and 
in some measure gave peace to Wyoming in the 
midst of war, by removing from Pennsylvania 
the authority of the Proprietaries, and royal Gov- 
ernors. During this interval of comparative re- 
pose, three companies of troops were enlisted at 
Wyoming for the service of the United Colonies. 
They were attached to the Connecticut line and 
made part of the troops of that Colony. At this 
lime a full enumeration of the population at "Wyo- 
ming was made, and the settlements were found to 
contain five thousand souls. Their militia at the 
same time amounted to one thousand one hundred 
men, capable of bearing arms 5* and of this force 
about three hundred enlisted to serve against the 
common enemy. After their march, the settlers 
continued to guard themselves with increased vigi- 
lance. Regular garrison duty was performed in 
the several fortifications by classes of the militia 
in successive order : in addition to which, a patroll 
called the u Scout," was established through the 



*See memorial to the Legislature of Connecti- 
cut, Oct. 20. 1784. 



HISTORY OE WYOMING. 121 

Valley, which was on duty night and day in suc- 
cession, exploring all thickets and unfrequented 
grounds, in search of any lurking enemy whicli 
might have come to disturb their peace, or spy 
out the land. 

The frontier .settlements of the different Colo- 
nies were at this time continually harrassed by in- 
cursive parties of British troops and Indians, from 
Canada ; and the surrender of General Burgoyne 
which took place in October (1777) did not pro- 
duce an abandonment of the system. Early in the 
spring of 1778 a force consisting of about eight 
hundred men, and composed of British regulars, 
tories and Indians, under the command of Colonel 
John Butler, assembled at Niagara and marched to 
the reduction of Wyoming. The Indians were in 
number about four hundred, and were commanded 
by Brandt,* a warlike chief, of mixed blood. At 
Tioga Point these troops procured boats and rafta 
of wood upon which they floated down the Susque- 
hanna until they arrived about twenty miles above 
Wyoming Fort. Here they landed the latter part 
of June. On the evening of the 2d. of July they 
took possession of a Fort which the settlers had 
built on the bank of the river about a mile below the 
head of the valley, called Fort Wintermoot. From 
this Fort, which the British commander made his 
head quarters, were sent small scouting parties in 
search of plunder and provisions, as well as to 



*Brandt is said to have been a son of Sir Wilf; 
jam Johnson by an Indian woman. 

K 



122 SKETCH OF THE 

ascertain the situation and strength of the force 
•which remained for the defence of the settlement-, 
Upon the arrival of these troops the settlers col- 
lected their principal forces in a fortification situ- 
ated on the west bank of the river, at a large eddy 
in the stream below Monockonock Island and 
about three miles above Wyoming Fort. This 
fort had been built and defended by forty of the 
settlers in that vicinity, and had thence obtained 
the name of *' Forty Fort." The Garrison now 
assembled here, consisted of the most active of the 
settlers, and amounted to three hundred and sixty 
eight men, a small party being left in the other 
forts for the protection of the settlement in their 
immediate vicinity. About a month previous 
messengers had been sent from the settlers to the 
Continental army, to inform the commander in 
chief of their situation, and to request that a de- 
tachment might be sent to their assistance. 
s On the morning of the 3d. of July, the officers 
of the garrison at Forty Fort held a council to de- 
termine on the propriety of marching from the fort, 
and attacking the enemy whereever found. The 
debates in this council of war are said to have 
been conducted with much warmth and animation. 
The ultimate determination was one on which de- 
pended the lives of the garrison and the safety of 
the settlements. On one side it was contended 
that their enemies were daily increasing in num- 
bers — that they would plunder the settlements of 
all kinds of property, and would accumulate the 
means of carrying on the war while they themselves 



HISTOR¥ OJF WYOMING. 123 

Would become weaker • that the harvest would 
soon be ripe, ami would be gathered or destroyed 
by their enemies, and all their means of sustenance 
during the succeeding winter would fail • That 
probably all their messengers were killed, and as 
there had been more than sufficient time, and no 
assistance arrived, they would probably receive 
none, and consequently now was the proper time 
to make the attack. On the other side it was ar- 
gued that probably some or all the messengers may 
have arrived at head quarters, but that the absence 
of the Commander-in-chief may have produced de- 
lay 5 that one or two weeks more may bring the 
desired assistance, and that to attack the enemy, 
-superior as they were in number, out of the limits 
of their own fort, would produce almost certain 
destruction to the settlement and themselves, and 
captivity and slavery — perhaps torture, to their 
wives and children. While these debates were 
progressing, five men belonging to Wyoming, but 
who, at that time, held commissions in the conti- 
nental army, arrived at the Fort. They had re- 
ceived information that a force from Niagara had 
marched to destroy the settlements on the Susque- 
hanna, and being unable to bring with them any 
re-enforcements, they resigned their appointments 
and hastened immediately to the protection of their 
families. They had heard nothing of the messen- 
gers, neither could they give any certain informa- 
tion as to the probability of relief. 

The prospects of receiving assistance became 
now extremely uncertain. The advocate*, for the 



IM SKETCH OF THE 

attack prevailed in the council, and at dawn ci 
da j on the morning of the third of July, the garri- 
son left the Fort, and began their march up the 
•iver under the command of Colonel Zebulon But- 
ler. Having proceeded about two miles, the troops 
halted for the purpose of detaching a reconnoiter- 
i«g party to ascertain the situation of the enemy. 
Col. Butler rode along the flank of the column to 
invite volunteers for this service. Abraham Pike 
and an Irish companion, offered their services, 
and they being the only volunteers, were accepted. 
The scout found the enemy in possession of Fort 
Wintermoot and occupying huts immediately 
around it, carousing in supposed security ; but on 
their return to the advancing column, they met 
two strolling Indians by whom they were fired up- 
on, and upon whom they immediately returnexl 
the fire, without effect. The settlers hastened 
their march for the attack, but the Indians had giv- 
en the alarm, and the advancing troops found the 
enemy already formed in order of battle a small 
distance from their fort, with their right flank co- 
vered by a swamp, and their left, resting upon the 
bank of the river. The settlers immediately dis- 
played their column, and formed in corresponding 
order ; but as the enemy was much superior in 
numbers their line was much more extensive. Pine 
woods and bushes covered the battle ground in con- 
sequence of which, the movements of the troops 
could not be so quickly discovered, nor so well 
ascertained. Col. Zebulon Butler had command 
of the right, and was opposed by Col. *Tohn But- 



HISTORY OF WYOMING. 125 

ler at the head of the British troops on the left. 
Col. Nathan Denison commanded the left, op- 
posed by Brandt at the head of his Indians on the 
enemy's right. The battle commenced at about 
forty rods distant, and continued about fifteen min- 
utes through the woods and brush without much 
execution. At this time Brandt with his Indians, 
having penetrated the swamp, turned the left flank 
of the settler's line, and with a terrible war-whoop 
and savage yell, made a desperate charge upon the 
troops composing that wing, which fell very fast, 
and were immediately cut to pieces with the toma- 
hawk. Col. Denison having ascertained that the 
savages were gaining the rear of the left, gave or- 
ders for that wing to fall back, in order to prevent 
being surrounded by the enemy. At the same 
time Col. John Butler finding that the line of the 
settlers did not extend as far towards the river as 
his own, doubled that end of kis line, which was 
protected by a thick growth of brushwood, and ha- 
ving brought a party of his British regulars to act in 
column upon that wing, threw -CoL Zebulon But 
ier's troops into some confusion. 

The orders of Col. Denison for his troops to/alt 
back, having been understood by many to mean a 
■retreat, the troops began to retire in much disorder. 
The savages considered this as a flight, and com- 
mencing a most hideous yell, rushed forward with 
their rifles and tomahawks, and cut the retiring- 
line to pieces. In this situation it was found im- 
possible to rally and form the troops, and the rout 
became general throughout the line. The settlers 



I&6 SKETCH 01? THE 

fied in every direction and were instantly follow &i 
by the savages, who killed or took prisoners who- 
ever came within their reach. Some succeeded La 
reaching the river and escaped by swimming across ? 
others tied to the mountains ; and the savages, too 
much occupied with plunder, gave up the pursuit. 
When the first in telligence was received in the vil- 
lage of "Wilkesbarre that the battle was lost, the 
women tied with their children to the mountains, 
on their way to the settlements on the Delaware* 
where many of them at length arrived after suffer- 
ing extreme hardships, Many of the men who es- 
vaped the battle, together with their women and 
children who were unable to travel on foot, took 
refuge in Wyoming Fort, and on the following da •' 
(July 4th. ) Butler and Brandt at the head of their 
combined forces appeared before the fort and de- 
manded its surrender. The garrison being with- 
out any efficient means of defence, surrendered 
the fort on articles of capitulation, by which the 
-. : tiers, upon giving up their fortifications, pris- 
oners, -and military stores, were to remain in the 
country unmolested, provided they did not agair, 
take up arms.* 

I this battle ^about three hundred of the settlers 
were killed or missing, and from a great part of 
whom no intelligence was ever afterwards received. 
The officers killed^ were one Lieutenant Colonel. 



*See Articles of 'Capitulation, Note No. II. at 
the end of the volume'. 
;j:See Note No. III. at Ike end of the volume. 



HISTOSY OF WYOMING. 12 7 

jne Major* ten Captains, six Lieutenants, and 
Uvo ensigns. 

A considerable number of the inhabitants of the 
different settlements on the Susquehanna, who, 
from their attachment to the British cause, were 
denominated tories, joined the British and savage 
troops previous to the battle, and exhibited instan- 
ces of the most savage barbarity in the manner in 
which they carried on the war against their former 
neighbors and friends. One instance may serve 
to shew the desperate feelings which those times 
produced. A short distance below the battle 
ground there is a large island in the river called 
; i Monockonock Island. " Several of the set? ers"j 
while the battle and pursuit continued, succeeded 
in swimming to this island, where they concealed 
themselves among the logs and brushwood upon it. 
Their arms had been thrown away in their flight, 
previous to their entering the river, so that they 
were in a manner defenceless. Two of them in 
particular were concealed near and in sight of each 
other. While in this situation they observed sev- 
eral of the enemy who had pursued and fired at 
them while they were swimming the river, prepa- 
ring to follow them to the island with their guns. 
On reaching the island they immediately wiped 
their guns and loaded them. One of them with his 
loaded gun soon passed close by one of these men 
who lay concealed from his view, and was immedi- 
ately recognized by him to be the brother of his 
companion who was concealed near him, but who, 
being a tory, had joined the enemy. He passed 



1£3 SKETCH OF THE 

slowly along, carefully examining every covert* 
and directi j perceived his brother in his place of 
concealment. He suddenly stopped and said, 
** so it is you, is it ?" His brother finding that 
he was discovered, immediately came forward a 
few steps, and falling on his knees, begged him to 
spare his life, promising to live with him and serve 
him, and even to be his slave as long as he lived., 
if he would only spare his life. " Ml this is migh- 
ty good," replied the savage hearted brother of the 
supplicating man, u but you are a d***d rebel ff 
and deliberately presenting his rifle, shot him 
dead upon the spot. The other settler made his 
escape from the island, and having related this 
fact, the tory brother thought it prudent to accom- 
pany the British troops on their return to Canada*, 
The conditions of the capitulation were entirely" 
disregarded by the British and savage forces, and 
after the fort was delivered up, all kinds of barbar- 
ities were committed by them. The village of 
Wilkesbarre, consisting of twenty-three houses, 
was burnt ; men and their wives were separated 
from each other and carried into captivity ; their 
property was plundered and the settlement laid 
■waste. The remainder of the inhabitants were 
driven from the Valley, and compelled to proceed 
on foot sixty miles through the great swamp almost 
without food or clothing. A number perished in 
••the journey, principally women and children-* 
gome died of their wounds, others wandered from 
the pat], in search of food and were lost, and those 
<who survived, called the wilderness through which 



HISTORY OP WYOMING. Jt£9 

tfiey passed " The Shades of Death;" an appel- 
lation which it has since retained. On their way 
through the swamp, the unhappy fugitives met a 
detachment of regular troops from the continental 
army under the command of Cant. Spalding, which, 
in consequence of the representations made by the 
messengers, had been sent to the relief of the in- 
habitants at Wyoming ; but as all was now lost, 
they returned to the Delaware, and the remnant 
of the inhabitants proceeded to their former homes 
in Connecticut. 

[Capt. Spalding and his company remained at 
Stroudsburg about four weeks, and learning that 
but few Indians continued at Wyoming, came im- 
mediately to Wilkesbarre and took possession of 
the desolated country, under the command of Col. 
Z. Butler, by whom they had been joined, to- 
gether with some others of the settlers, about the 
time of their departure. Soon after their arrival, 
they built a fort on the bank of the river a short 
distance below the centre of the present borough of 
Wilkesbarre. This they occupied as a home about 
eleven months, when Gen. Sullivan and his army 
arrived. During this period small parties of In- 
dians occasionally made their appearance, killing 
or taking prisoners, all who were so unfortunate as 
to fail into their hands. The Americans in return 
despatched an Indian whenever an opportunity 
presented itself. Sometime in March, 1779, the fort 
was surrounded by about 250 Indians and painted 
tories. They commenced an attack upon the fort, 
but upon a eannon being fired by the garrison. the 



150 SKETCH 61? THE 

Indians with their abettors retreated, burning and 
destroying everything of consequence before them. 
On account of the superior numbers of the ene- 
my, the Americans did not pursue them.] 

The battle and massacre ^at Wyoming having 
produced much public sensation, the commander 
-in-chief of the American armies, sent a detach- 
ment of two thousand five hundred men under the 
command of Gen. Sullivan, to drive the British 
and Indians from that place and to lay waste the 
Indian country along the north-western frontier. 
These troops were to receive their military stores 
at Easton and to open a road through the swamp by 
which their baggage was to be transported to the 
Susquehanna. Some unexpected delay occurred 
m the departure of the expedition from the Dela- 
ware, and the inhabitants, many of whom had re- 
turned to Wyoming in anticipation of the protec- 
isioii to be afforded by Gen. Sullivan's army, were 
under apprehensions of an attack from lurking 
hordes of Indians who continued among the moun- 
tains notwithstanding the departure of the Canadi- 
an troops. To afford the requisite protection in 
case of such an attack, a company of troops under 
the command of Major Powell, was directed to 
inarch by the small path through the swamp, and 
form a garrison in Wyoming fort until the arrival of 
the main army. These troops not apprehensive of 
any danger proceeded in an irregular manner along 
the small path which admitted the passage of single 
files only, and were fired upon on the 20th of April 
by a body of Indians in ambush, while crossing the 



&ISTORY OP WYOMING. 131 

head of Laurel Run, near thi, summit of the first 
mountain. In this attack, Capt. AJavis, Lieut. 
Jones, and tour men, were kiliea, and the remain- 
der of the troops having retreated a shui t distance, 
and formed for battle, succeeded in dispersing the 
Indians who fled alter a few scattering discharges, 
when the troops entered the Valiej . The remains 
of Capt. Davis and Lieut. Jones were removed to 
the burial ground in Wilkesbarre, where the 
Brotherhood erected a rough stone monument with 
a suitable inscription over their graves. 

On the 2£d of June, (1779,) General Sullivan 
arrived with the main body of the troops. 

On the 22d day of July, a company of Pennsyl- 
vania militia, who had marched to Lacka waxen for 
the protection of the settlements in that vicinity., 
were attacked by a body of one hundred and forty 
Indians, and between forty and fifty of the militia 
were either killed or made prisoners. 

Gen. Sullivan, having ascertained that the Ca- 
nadian troops and their Indian allies had removed 
up the Susquehanna where they continued their 
plunders, resolved to follow them, and if possible 
give them battle. Accordingly on Saturday the 
31st. of July, his whole army departed from Wy- 
oming and moved up the river on the eastern shore, 
His baggage occupied one hundred and twenty 
boats and two thousand horses, the former of which 
were arranged in regular order upon the river, and 
were propelled against the stream by soldiers with 
setting poles, having a sufficient guard of troop.* 
to accompany them. The horses, which carried 



1S2 SKETCH OP TIWS 

the provisions for the daily subsistance of the troojjs^, 
passed along the narrow path in single file, and 
formed a line extending about six miles. The 
boats formed a beautiful appearance as they moved 
in order from their moorings, and as they passed 
the Fort received a grand salute, which was re- 
turned by the loud cheers of the boat-men. The 
whole scene formed a military display surpassing 
any which had ever been exhibited at Wyoming, 
and was well calculated to form a powerful impress- 
ion upon the minds of those lur-king parties of sav- 
ages which still continued to range upon the moun- 
tains from which all these movements were visible 
for many miles. Gen. Sullivan found the enemy, 
consisting of about one thousand men, collected 
near Newtown on the Tioga river, where they had 
strongly entrenched themselves behind a breast- 
work extending across a bend of the river, which 
covered their rear. In this position he attacked 
them on the 29th of August, and obtained a com- 
plete victory, having driven them from the breast- 
work across the river, whence they fled precipi- 
tately into the woods. He then proceeded into 
the Indian country, and having destroyed eighteen 
villages, and laid waste the country as far as the 
Genisee river, returned by the way of Tioga Point 
to Wyoming. The army arrived at Wyoming on 
the 7th. of October, 1779 — and on the following 
day an entertainment was given by order of Col.- 
Butler. On the 10th. of this month the army left 
the Valley, and on the 15th, arrived at Eas 
ton. 



MI8T0UY OF WYOMING. 139 

After the return of Gen. Sullivan, several par- 
ties of Indians, stimulated by revenge for the loss- 
es they had sustained, continued to range among 
the mountains of Wyoming in thirst of vengeance 
upon the white people, and occasionally caught, 
and tortured in the most cruel manner, any de- 
fenceless individuals who came in their way.-— 
Several companies of rustick troops were enlisted 
in the frontier settlements of Pennsylvania to pro- 
tect the inhabitants against these incursions, and 
one from Northampton County, commanded by 
William Mover, having proceeded on their march 
to the Susquehanna, were refreshing themselves 
at a small stream which falls into the little Nesco- 
peck Creek a short distance above the present vil- 
lage of Cony ngham, when they were suddenly at- 
tacked by a party consisting of forty Indians and 
one white man, who killed eleven of the company 
and mortally wounded two others. As soon as 
the troops could recover their guns, the fire was 
returned, and in the attack* ten of the Indians 
ivere killed and one mortally wounded. The In- 
dians in their retreat carried away three prisoners, 
who however, escaped from them the next night at 
Nanticoke where the wounded Indian died. 

The danger of Indian wars being in a great 
measure removed, the inhabitants returned in great 
numbers to their possessions at Wyoming, where 
their settlements again flourished, and their Vil- 
lage was rebuilt. The State of Pennsylvania how- 
ever, viewed with great displeasure the growth of 

$ Colony within her territorial limits, which refus- 

L 



134 SKETCH OF TUB 

ed to acknowledge her jurisdiction, and totally dis- 
regarding the authority of her laws, had set up a' 
government of its own. 

Under these circumstances the State applied to 
the Continental Congress, requesting the appoint- 
ment of a tribunal which should be authorized to. 
determine the matter in dispute between Pennsyl-' 
vania and Connecticut concerning the jurisdiction 
of the respective States over the territory in ques- 
tion. The Congress accordingly appointed a board 
of Commissioners to hear and determine this ques- 
tion ; and this respectable body met at Trenton in 
New Jersey, where the parties were notified to at- 
tend. The State of Connecticut appointed Messrs. 
Dyer, Johnston and Root, as agents to attend the 
board on behalf of that State, and Messrs. Brad- 
ford, Reed, Wilson and Sergeant, were appointed 
on the part of Pennsylvania. After a deliberation 
of more than five weeks, the board, on the 30th of 
December 1782, pronounced their opinion in the 
following words, viz: 

"We are unanimously of opinion that the State 
"of Connecticut has no right to the land in con- 
troversy. 

"We are also unanimously of opinion that the 
•'jurisdiction and preemption of all lands lying 
i; within the charter bounds of Pennsylvania, and 
"now claimed by the. State of Connecticut, do of 
" right belong to the State of Pennsylvania." 

The inhabitants at Wyoming considered the 
question before the court at Trenton to be a ques- 
tion of jurisdiction only, and not one which would 



Kf STOUT OF WYOMING. 235 

in any degree effect the right of soij. They con- 
sidered that the State of Connecticut had convey- 
ed her interest in the soil to the Susquehanna Com- 
pany, and had therefore strictlys in the language of 
liie court, "no right to the land in controversy.' 9 
They therefore acquiesced without the least hesi- 
tation in the decision of that court, and immediate- 
ly signified their willingness to conform to the con- 
stituted authorities of the State of Pennsylvania by 
a memorial to the General Assembly, from which 
ihe following is an extract : 

"The honourable -Congress -established a Court ; 
both sides were cited and appeared ; the cause was 
heard for more than forty days, and the ground 
stated on which each asserted their right of juris- 
diction. On which the court finally adjudged m 
favour of theySta,te*of Pennsylvania, by which the 
.jurisdiction of the disputed territory on which your 
memorialists live is adjudged yours. IVy this ad- 
judication we are under your jurisdiction and pro- 
tection. We are subjects and free citizens of 
-the State of Pennsylvania, and have now to look up 
<o your honours, as our Fathers, guardians and pro- 
tectors — entitled to every tender regard and res- 
pect as to justice, equity, liberty and protection." 

44 It is impossible that the magnanimity of ft 
powerful and opulent State will ever condescend 
to distress an innocent and brave people, that have 
unsuccessfully struggled against the ills of fortune. 
We care not under what State we live, if we live 
protected and happy. We will serve you, we 
.will promote your interests, we will fight your 



1$$ SKETCH OF THE 

battles, but in mercy, goodness, wisdom, justice, 
and every great and generous principle, leave us 
our possessions, the dearest pledge of our brothers} 
children and fathers, which their hands have culti- 
vated, and their blood, spilt in the cause oi their 
country, enriched." 

" Wyoming, January 18th, 1783." 

Read January 21st, and ordered to lie on the 
table. 

Immediately after the General Assembly had 
received notice of the decree at Trenton, they ap- 
pointed a Committee to confer with the Supreme 
Executive Council concerning the Wyoming con- 
troversy, and on the 20th. of February, that Com- 
mittee reported : — " That the persons now settled 
at Wyoming, yielding obedience to the laws, are 
undoubtedly entitled in common with other citi- 
zens of this state to protection and the benefits of 
civil government." The committee also recom- 
mended that commissioners should be appointed 
by the General Assembly to go to Wyoming to 
examine the state of the country, to act as magis- 
trates, and to recommend what measures the gov- 
ernment should adopt in relation to the settlers. 

Accordingly on the 25th of February the Assem- 
bly appointed William Montgomery, Moses 
McLean, and Joseph Montgomery, who were di- 
rected to attend at Wyoming on the 15th. of April. 

These commissioners reported that a reasonable 
compensation in land should be made to the fami- 
lies of those who had fallen in arms against the 
amnion enemy, and to such other settlers as had 



HISTORY OF WYOMING. 1$*? 

St proper Connecticut title, and "did actually re- 
side on the land at the time of the decree at Tren- 
ton, provided they immediately relinquish all 
claim to the soil where they now inhabit, and enter 
into contracts to deliver up full and quiet possess- 
ion of their present tenures, to the rightful owners 
under Pennsylvania by the first of April next." 

The guard of continental troops which had been 
posted at Wyoming being about to be withdrawn, 
the General Assembly directed two companies of 
rangers to be stationed at that -place, and on the 
4th of March the Council 4 - ordered, that Capt, 
4 'Thomas Robinson and C apt. Philip Shrawder, be 
4 'directed to march to -Wyoming and take every 
' ' proper measure for maintaining the post there, 
'and for protecting the settlement." Capt. 
Shrawder accordingly marched and on the 21st of 
March took possession of, Wyoming fort, to which 
he gave the name of " Fort Dickinson," in honour 
of the President of the Supreme Executive Council 
.of Pennsylvania. On the 24th of the same month 
Capt. Robinson and his company arrived. 

By the report of the Commissioners, and by the 
manner in which the troops conducted themselves 
after their arrival, the inhabitants discovered that 
the Government of Pennsylvania considered the 
Court at Trenton as having decijlad,. not the ques- 
tion of jurisdiction alone, but the right of private 
property also ; and that the troops stationed at 
Wyoming were intended not only to guard the set- 
tlement against the common enemy, but also to pro- 

~j'-' ■t.JL'ue" Pennsylvania claimants in^tke posf 

L* 



13$ SKETCH OF TUB 

sion of their lands. In this view of affairs the 
troops began to be considered bj the inhabitants 
rather as their keepers, than their protectors. 
Capt. Robinson's company having been recalled, 
the Council in September ordered Capt. Cristie to 
proceed with his company to Wyoming and rein- 
force Capt. Shrawder, and also directed James 
Moore, Esq. a Major in the militia, to repair to 
that station and take the military command. Two 
Justices of the Peace, Messrs. Patterson and 
West, were also directed to accompany the troops 
and to hold a tribunal for the adjudication of all 
questions under the civil authority. This rein- 
forcement arrived at Wyoming on the 29th of Oc- 
tober, and immediately commenced the exercise 
of their high functions in the most illegal and dis- 
graceful manner. Those liberal principles of jus- 
tice and policy which appeared to have actuated 
the legislature in recommending this appointment, 
were forgotten or disregarded by those to whom 
the Council had entrusted their administration 5 
and under this mixed government of civil and mili- 
tary authority the inhabitants of Wyoming suffered 
little less than when abandoned to their most cru- 
el and savage enemies. The unhappy husband- 
man saw his cattle driven away, his barns on fire, 
his children robbed of their bread, and his wife and 
daughters a prey to a licentious soldiery.. Under 
these accumulated evils, the inhabitants petitioned 
the Legislature for redress 5 but as their petition* 
which was presented early in December, was not 
acted upon in a proper time, they presented anoth= 



H13T0BY OF WYOtfltfC* 1S# 

es petition to the Congress of the United States * 
not only setting forth their present difficulties and 
soliciting redress, but also requesting that a com 
petent tribunal might be appointed in conformity 
to the ninth article of the confederation of the 
States, by which the private right of property in 
the soil might be determined. On the report of a 
committee to whom this petition was referred, 
Congress, on the 23d. of January 1784, Resolved, 
that such tribunal be constituted, and that Con- 
gress or a Committee of the States would hear the 
parties on the fourth Monday of June then next. 
It happened that on that day neither Congress nor 
the Committee of the States were sitting, and the 
controversy came to no determination. 

The winter of this year was severely cold, and 
a body of ice was formed upon the Susquehanna of 
an uncommon thickness. Immense masses of snow 
lay in the forests which fed the tributary streams, 
and the Spring of 1784 opened with a general and 
sudden thaw. On the 13th. and 14th. of March, 
there fell immense quantities of rain. The follow- 
ing day the ice in the river began to break up, and 
the stream rose with great rapidity. The ice first ' 
gave way at the different rapids, and floated down 
in great masses which lodged against the frozen 
surface of the more gentle parts of the river where 
it continued firm. In this manner several large 
dams were formed which caused such an accumu- 
lation of the water, that the river overflowed all its 
banks, and one general inundation overspread the 
Extensive plains of Wyoming. The inhabitants 



-^ 446 SKETCH OF THE 

took refuse on the hills and surrounding heights 
and saw their property exposed to the fury of the 
waters. At length the upper dam gave way, and 
huge masses of ice were scattered in every direc- 
tion. The deluge bore down upon the dams be- 
low which successively yielded to the insupportable 
burden, and the whole went off with a noise like 
the thunder of contending storms. * Houses, barns, 
fences, stacks of hay and grain, cattle, flocks of 
sheep, and droves of swine, were swept off in the 
general destruction and seen no more. - The plain 
on which the village of Wilkesbarre is built, was 
covered with heaps of ice which continued a great 
portion of the following summer. 

The ice freshet, as this deluge was called, crea- 
ted so great a scarcity of provisions, that the pros 
pect of approaching want, produced the most 
gloomy apprehensions among the inhabitants ; and 
the soldiers, in order to provide sufficient stores for 
themselves, became more ungovernable than be- 
fore in their acts of indiscriminate plunder upon 
such property as the more merciful elements had 
neglected to destroy. . These accumulated evils 
excited much sympathy in the inhabitants of 
Pennsylvania and the,, surrounding colonies in be- 
half of the sufferers, and Mr. Dickinson,- Presi- 
dent of the Supreme Executive Council, who ap- 
pears to have largely participated in feelings so hon- 
ourable to his station, sent, on the 31st of March., 
the folio wing message to the General Assembly: 

"Gentlemen- — The late inundation having re- 
^ educed many of the inhabitants of Wyoming to 



HISTORY OP WYOMING. t4$ 

great distress, we should be glad if your honoura- 
ble house would make some immediate provision 
tor their relief. " 

The General Assembly, however, governed as 
it then was by the influence of the landholders, did 
not appear to be influenced by the motives which 
actuated the Council, and no effectual measures 
were taken for the relief of the inhabitants. The 
soldiers continued their acts of violence and plun- 
der under the sanction of the principal magistrate, 
Justice Patterson, who fearing that his conduct 
might produce an enquiry on the part of the Coun- 
cil, thought proper to provide against that event, 
and accordingly in a letter to the Council of the 
529th of April, he expresses himself as follows : — 
4 ' I therefore humbly hope that if any dangerous or 
seditious commotion should arise in this country, 
30 remote from the seat of government, that it may 
not be construed into a want of zeal or love for the 
Commonwealth, if we should, through dire neces- 
sity, be obliged to do somethings not strictly con- 
sonant with the letter of the law." 

The inhabitants finding at length that the bur- 
4en of their calamities was too great to be borne, 
began to resist the illegal proceedings of their new 
masters, and refused to comply with the decisions 
of the mock tribunals which had been established. 
Their resistance enraged the magistrates, and on 
the 12th of May the soldiers of the garrison were 
sent to disarm them, and under this pretence one 
hundred and fifty families were turned out*oftheh j 
dwellings, many of which were burnt, and all ages 



A42 SKETCH OP THE 

and sexes reduced to the same destitute condition* 
After being plundered of their little remaining 
property, thej were driven from the valley and 
compelled to proceed on foot through the wilder- 
ness by, way of the- Lackawaxen to the Delaware, 
a distance of about eighty miles. . During this jour- 
ney the unhappy fugitives suffered all the miseries 
which human nature appears to be capable of endu- 
ring. Old men, whose children were slain in bat- 
tle, widows with their infant children, and child- 
ren without parents to protect, them, were here 
companions in -exile and sprrow y and wandering, in 
a wilderness where famine and ravenous beasts 
continued daily to lessen the number of the suffer- 
ers. One shocking instance of suffering is related 
by a survivor of this scene of death ; it is the case 
of a mother whose infant having died, roasted it by 
piecemeal for the daily subsistence. of her remain- 
ing children ! 

Acts of violence, productive of so much misery? 
caused murmurs to arise, which could not be dis- 
regarded by the government of Pennsylvania, and 
the General Assembly appointed Jonas Hartzel, 
Robert Brown, and Jacob Stroud, Commissioners., 
with directions to repair to Wyoming and examine 
concerning the state of the settlement, and to en- 
quire relative to the conduct of the Pennsylvania 
officers. These Commissioners were accompani- 
ed by the Sheriff of Northumberland county, and 
on their arrival, having ascertained the abuses 
which had been committed, they made such repre,- 
v scntations to government concerning them, thai. 



HISTORY OF WYOMING. 243' 

«ii the 13th. of June the Troops were discharged^ ' 
a small number only being retained to garrison 
Fort Dickinson. The inhabitants 'were according- 
ly invited to return to their dwellings by public 
proclamation, and were promised protection on 
yielding obedience to the laws. Many of the 
Troops which had been discharged, were employed 
by some of the Pennsylvania land claimants to con- 
tinue at Wyoming, and they formed a band of free- 
booters, who continued about the settlements for a 
time, and after the return of the Sheriff* and Com- 
missioners, took possession of some vacant houses 
in Kingston, where they subsisted by plundering 
the surrounding country. These men afterwards 
joined Patterson and his small garrison in Fort 
Dickinson, where they produced such a reinforce- 
ment, and a force of such a description, as induced 
the inhabitants to garrison themselves at Forty-fort., 

On the '20th of July a party of the inhabitants 
proceeded from' this post to the flats about five 
miles below, in order to ascertain the situation of 
their grain fields, and having passed some distance 
from the fort, were fired upon by a' party consist- 
ing of thirty of Patterson's men, commanded by 
Win. Brink, when Chester Pierce and Elisha Gar- 
ret, two distinguished young men, were killed, and 
the remainder effected their retreat to the fort. 

The loss of Pierce and Garret was deeply lamen- 
ted, and the inhabitants resolved to avenge their 
murders. Accordingly three daj r s afterwards the 
garrison of forty fort marched to Wilkesbarre, near 
#ie dawn of the 4ay, with an intention of surpri- 



144 SKETCH, &€. 

zing Patterson and his party, and if possible, to 
make them prisoners ; but the former having re- 
ceived an intimation of their design, retired with 
his associates into the Fort, and there prepared to 
defend themselves. The inhabitants surrounded 
the Fort, but not being in a situation to commence 
a siege, they secured some of their own property 
which Patterson had neglected to secure, and leav- 
ing a party to guard the fort, proceeded to Mill 
Creek, and took possession of the mill at that place, 
the only one in the settlement, and which had been 
for some time occupied exclusively by Patterson 
and his party. Here they remained until they had 
ground a sufficient quantity of grain for their im- 
mediate wants, when they again returned to their 
.position at forty fort. 



SKETCH 

OF THE 

HISTORY OF WYOMEVG. 

CHAPTER I Y. 

Fort Dickinson at Wyoming besieged by the Con%' 
necticut settlers — Pennsylvania troops sent to 
Wyoming wider Colonel Armstrong — Affair at 
Locust Hill — Armstrong arrives at Wyoming— 
He treacherously makes prisoners of the Connec- 
ticut settlers- — Prisoners escape from East on and 
Sunbury — Attack upon the Pennsylvania troops 
— 7Vie Commissioners ^ Reed and Henderson, kill- 
ed — Re-enforcements of Pennsylvania troops 
sent to Wyoming — Letter of President Dickin- 
son — Proceedings of the Council of Censors—* 
Memorial to the Legislature of Connecticut — Me- 
morial to the General Assembly of Pennsylvania 
-—Luzerne county erected — Confirming Law 
passed — Commissioners sent to Wyoming — Col- 
onel Pickering taken, prisoner — Skirmish at 
Mcl hoppen — Confirming law repealed — Compen- 
sation Law passed*— Settlement of the controver- 
sy — Intrusion Law passed — Bradford and Sus- 
quehanna counties erected. 

The acts of violence, which had been committed 
by Patterson and his associates at Wyoming, exci- 
ted in the bosoms of the inhabitants the most de- 
termined spirit of vengeance ; and having collected 
their forces from the surrounding country, t\ -\v 
laid siege to Fort Dickinson, in which these cruel 
tfiamuders^ to the number of sixty-five, attempted 

M 



146 SKETCH OF THE 

to defend themselves. The Fort at this time 
mounted four pieces of cannon, but for them they 
had no ammunition. They had, however, one 
hundred and thirty muskets, and one large box of 
cartridges. With these they prepared to repel any 
attack which should be made previous to the arri- 
val of re enforcements, to procure which, they had 
dispatched a messenger to Philadelphia, on receiv- 
ing the first intimation of the contemplated attack. 
On the 23d. of July the inhabitants surrounded 
the Fort, and having continued closely to invest 
it for three days, resolved to attempt carrying the 
works by storm, when the following summons was 
sent to the garrison : — 

44 Wyoming, July 27, 1784. 
44 Gentlemen — In the name and behalf of the 
4 " inhabitants of this place, who held their lands 
44 under the Connecticut claim, and were lately. 
>4 without law, or even the color of law, driven 
i4 from their possessions in a hostile and unconsti- 
44 tutional manner, we, in the name of these in- 
jured and incensed inhabitants, demand an imme- 
• 4 diate surrender of your garrison into our hands ; 
• ; together with our possessions and property, 
;< which if complied with, you shall be treated with 
k 4 humanity and commiseration, otherwise the con- 
sequences will prove fatal and bloody to every 
: 4 person found in the garrison. 

44 We give you two hours for a decisive answer. 
f( and will receive the same at Mr. Bailey's. 
[Signed) . 44 JOHN FRANKLIN, 

^ 4 In behalf of the injured. '* 



'< 4 



a 



HISTORY 0¥ WYOMING. 147 

After this message had been sent to the garri- 
son, information was received that troops and 
magistrates were on their way from Northumber- 
land, to preserve order and to do justice to all par- 
ties. The inhabitants immediately raised the 
siege on receiving this news, and returned to Forty 
fort, where it was resolved to await the arrival of 
the magistrates. The messengers which had been 
sent from Fort Dickinson, communicated to the 
Council of Pennsylvania the situation of affairs at 
Wyoming, and on the 29th. of July the Council 
"Resolved, that the lieutenant of the county of 
Northampton be directed immediately to draw 
forth a detachment of three hundred infantry and 
twelve or fifteen light dragoons, properly officered 
and equipped, from the militia of said county;" and 
also, that the Sheriff of the county of Northumber- 
land should raise the posse of that county, and 
that the lieutenant of the county should aid the 
Sheriff by such portion of the militia as might be 
necessary to furnish a proper force for the reduc- 
tion of Wyoming. On the same day the Council 
appointed the honourable John Boyd and Lieut. 
Colonel John Armstrong, Commissioners, " For 
carrying into execution such measures as shall be 
judged necessary and expedient for the support of 
the civil authority, by establishing peace and good 
order in the county of Northumberland." The 
territory of Northumberland county then included 
the Valley of Wyoming, and the Sheriff and mili- 
tia from that county, as well as those from the 
cetmty of Northampton, were to act under the di- 



148 SKETCH 01? THE 

rection of these commissioners, who were directed 
to repair immediately to Wyoming and take the 
command. John Vancampen, Esquire, was ap^ 
pointed to furnish supplies for the troops, and an, 
order for one hundred pounds was drawn in his fa- 
vor. 

The Council, on receiving information of the af- 
fair of the 20th. July, had appointed Thomas Hewet^ 
David Mead and Robert Martin, Commissioners, 
to repair to Wyoming and restore peace to the set- 
tlement by disarming both the contending parties .$ 
Jind the approach of these commissioners had pre«= 
vented the attack upon Fort Dickinson. They 
arrived on the 29th. and on the 30th. July a confer- 
ence was held between the belligerent parties, a- 
greeably to the wish of the commissioners, with a 
view of effecting some accommodation of their 
Contentions. These conferences not having pro- 
duced the desired effect, the commissioners on the 
5th. of August addressed a letter to each of the 
parties, requiring, under the authority of the State, 
that they should deliver to the Sheriff, who had ac- 
companied them from Sunbury, all their fire arms 
and a number of men as hostages for the preserva* 
tion of the peace. To these letters no attention 
was paid by either of the parties, for information 
had previously been received of the approach of the 
troops under Armstrong and Boyd, and measure* 
had been taken by one party to annoy, and by the 
other, to accelerate their movements. 

On the. 1st. of August Colonel Armstrong and. 
Colonel J$oyd arrived at Easton? where a portion. 



HISTORY OF WYOMING. 149 

of their troops had assembled, and where they 
were to receive supplies. On the 3d. they pro- 
ceeded to " Lanier's," a public Inn near the Po- 
kono mountain, at a place which commanded the 
entrance into the swamp through which the road 
to Wyoming passed, and which had been designa- 
ted as the place of general rendezvous for all the 
troops composing the expedition. In order to se- 
cure possession of the road which led to Wyoming, 
and to prevent any surprize of his troops on their 
inarch, Armstrong had thought it necessary to oc- 
cupy an eminence called Locust Hill, and a num- 
ber of men having volunteered for this service, Co- 
lonel James Moore was appointed to command the 
party, who proceeded immediately to that position 
and took possession of a small log house erected 
there. 

The inhabitants of Wyoming having received no- 
tice that troops were organizing beyond the Poko- 
no mountain to attack them, and that a party had 
already taken possession of Locust Hill, a compa- 
ny of volunteers was immediately formed, to at- 
tack them, under the command of Capt. John 
Swift. They commenced their march, and on the 
morning of the 2d. of August, having advanced near 
the house under cover of the woods, opened their 
fire upon it ; and a shot passing in at a window, 
killed Jacob Everet, and wounded two others, when 
the besieging party withdrew, and again returned 
to Wyoming. Armstrong in his letter to the 
Council, gives the following account of the affair: 
*' Colonel Moore, aggreeably to a plot which we 



150 SKETCH OF THE 

had concerted in Philadelphia, had collected aboulr 
twenty volunteers with whom he had taken posses- 
sion of a little height about mid-way in the swamp 
merely to command the avenue by which we pro- 
posed to march. The Colonel had lain there some 
days, believing himself to be perfectly secure, ax 
ihej were still in Northampton county, when, 
without any provocation on his part, or previous 
notice on theirs, he was fired upon by the insur- 
gents, drawn into a little hut and there obliged to 
suffer a two hours attack of great violence, in which 
three of his men were wounded and one killed. 
The assailants then withdrew into the swamp and 
the Colonel retired hither. This little rencontre 
would have been much more equal had not the 
Colonel himself been sick of a fever, and his part/ 
£0 much dispersed." 

Armstrong continued at Larner's until the 14th*' 
ol August, although the 7th. had been appointed for 
(heir match, but the delay, and difficulty of collec- 
ting and providing for the militia who were to ac-. 
company him, continually retarded his movements. 
At length, having called only a small force, he pro- 
ceeded to Wyoming where he found the magis- 
trates, Hewit, Meade and Martin, together with 
same troops who had arrived from Northumber- 
land. These re-enforcements, together with those 
previously stationed there, constituted a force of 
about four hundred men, the command of which 
devolved upon Armstrong,* who having received 

* The same John Armstrong who has since been 
Secretary at "War and Minister to France* 



HISTORY OF WYOMING* 161 

-iniofrnation that the Inhabitants were in garrison 
at Forty Fort, conceived the design of ensnaring 
them into his power, rather than to attempt redu- 
cing them by force. Accordingly a message was 
sent to them with assurance that both parties would 
be required to lay down their arms, and that peace 
and tranquility should be again restored. This 
was accompanied with a copy of a manifesto which ' 
he had caused to be published immediately after 
his arrival, declaring that he came for the purpose 
of executing the laws, establishing order, and 
44 protecting the more peaceable inhabitants.'* 
Many of the inhabitants suspected treachery, and 
for a time refused to disarm themselves j but the pos- 
itive assurances of Armstrong, who was Secretary 
to the Council, and whose public character seemed 
to repel suspicion, at length prevailed. They re- 
paired to Fort Dickinson to present claims for the 
property which had been unlawfully taken from 
-them, and were immediately seized by the troopa 
under the command of Armstr mg, and closely con- 
fined in the Block house during two days, after 
which they were bound together in pairs and sent 
to prison at Easton. Forty-two others who had 
previously put themselves into Armstrong's power 
-under the same assurances, were also bound with 
ropes, and afterwards sent under a strong guard to 
the prison at Sunbury, where they arrived on the 
•24th. of August, and the next morning ten of them 
made their escape. A sergeant's guard was imme- 
diately mounted at the prison to secure the remain- 
4ex who were thrown, together into a dirty aparfr 



15 2 SKETCH 03? THE 

merit, and treated with great rigour. Those who 
were sent to Easton were confined in one large 
apartment in the Jail at that place, until the 17th. 
of September. On that day the assistant keeper of 
the prison came to the apartment as usual to furnish 
supplies, viien one of the prisoners, of the name of 
Ionian, seized him by the neck, and forcing the 
keys from his hands, knocked him down with them, 
by which blow the man fainted, and all the prison- 
ers made their escape. After tlie prisoners had 
been sent to Easton and Sunbury, most of the 
troops remaining at Wyoming were discharged $ 
the remainder formed a garrison in Fort Dickinson, 
while Armstrong, Patterson, and their associates, 
proceeded to gather the harvest which had been 
planted by the inhabitants. 

Many of those who resided in the remote parts of 
the settlement, and who had not put themselves in 
the power of Armstrong, assembled at Bowman's 
creek, where their numbers were considerably aug- 
mented by the return of some of the prisoners, and 
by some re-enforcements from Vermont ; and hav- 
ing been informed that Armstrong's forces at 
VVilkesbarre were much reduced by the discharge 
of a portion of the troops, took possession of Forty 
Fort, and prepared themselves to protect the re- 
mainder of tne harvest. About the 20th. of Sep- 
tember as a party of Armstrong's men were at- 
tempting to gather a part of the harvest, they were 
attacked by a number of the inhabitants from For- 
ty- Fort who compelled them to abandon their plun- 
der and seek refuge in Fort Dickinson. k Immedi- 



iilSTORY OIF WYOMING* t%3 

vttety on receiving notice of this affair, Armstrong* 
detached as many men as could be spared from the 
garrison in pursuit of what he called the "insu& 
jents 9 " who took refuge in a cluster of log-houseS 
from which his troops attempted to dislodge them^ 
but were driven back with the loss of two men 
wounded. Armstrong by way of apology for this 
retreat, observes in his letter to the president of tlie 
Council : — "I need scarcely observe to your Ex- 
cellency, that four log houses so constructed as to 
flank each other, become a very formidable post." 
He retired with his troops to the fort where he found 
tnmself capable of defence, and dispatched a mes- 
senger to the Council to request re-enforcements. 
These proceedings served to convince the inhabit- 
ants that Armstrong's force was small, and as they 
severely felt the loss of the fire arms which he had 
so treacherously taken from them, they concluded 
it would be a favorable time to recover them pre- 
vious to the arrival of any re-enfarcements, and hav- 
ing ascertained that they were deposited in a house 
near the bank of the river they proceeded to the 
house on Sunday night, the 25th. of September, and 
as they were attempting to break it open, they were 
attacked by a detachment of Armstrong's party, 
placed in a proper position as a guard, and after 
exchanging a few shots the inhabitants retired.. 
The next day Colonel Armstrong set out for Phila- 
delphia, to represent the state of affairs at Wyo- 
ming, and to request of the Council the appoint- 
ment of a sufficient force to protect thePennsylva- 
»HJa. claimants* . On the. night of t the £7"th. about ii£- 



154 SKETCH OF THE 

teen of the inhabitants surrounded the house where 
Patterson and the Commissioners lodged, and com- 
menced an attack upon it with lire arms, which 
was continued for about two hours, during which 
time Messrs Reed and Henderson, two of the ma- 
gistrates, were mortally wounded. The inhabit- 
ants having recovered their arms, withdrew, and 
Colonel Franklin on their behalf sent a statement of 
the transaction to the Council at Philadelphia, in 
which he states that these events were not pro- 
duced by any disposition to disregard the laws, but 
to be revenged on Patterson and Armstrong for 
their treachery. 

An account of these transactions having been re- 
ceived in Philadelphia, the Council on the 2d. of 
October, "Ordered, that a detachment of fifty men 
properly officered and equipped, be immediately 
drawn forth from the militia of the county of Bucks, 
and that the like number of men be in like manner 
immediately drawn forth from the militia of the 
county of Berks, to be sent to Wyoming for quiet- 
ing the disturbances and supporting the civil au- 
thority in that district/' The Council on the 
same day appointed John Armstrong to be Adju- 
tant General of 4 the Militia, with directions to take 
charge of the troops which were to march to Wyo- 
ming, and to maintain the post there. These 
measures of the Council appear to have been taken 
contrary to the wishes of the President, John Dick- 
j ison, Esquire, who, on the 5th. of October, sent to 
the Council Chamber a letter from which the fol- 
lowing is an extract : 



HIST011Y OY WYOMING. 155 

44 Being still indisposed and unable to attend in 
44 Council to day, I think it my duty, notwith* • 
"ingwhat has been already offered, to request 
44 that you will be pleased further to consider the 
44 propriety of calling a body of militia into actual 
44 service, on the intelligence yet received, and in 
44 the manner proposed. If the intention is that ' 
44 the militia should assist the Pennsylvania claim- 
44 ants in securing the corn planted on the lands 
44 from which the settlers were expelled last spring, 
44 such a procedure will drive those settlers into 
* 4 absolute despair. They will have no alternative 
44 but to fight for the corn, or suffer, perhaps to per- 
t6 ish, for want of it in the coming winter. The 
44 Commissioners have informed the Council that 
* their determination on that alternative will most 
44 probably be" [Here is a space left in the entries 
of this letter in the Book containing the minutes of 
the Council, over which is a long black mark drawn, 
as if some cause prevented the insertion of this part 
of the President's letter, which thus proceeds:] 
44 They will regard this step as the commencement 
44 of a war against them, and perhaps others whose 
44 sentiments are of vastly more importance, may 
44 be of the same opinion. I am perfectly convin- 
44 ced of the uncommon merit of Colonel Arm- 
44 strong, but the appointment of an Adjutant- 
44 General upon this occasion, and bestowing that 
44 appointment on the Secretary of the Council, 
44 when it is well known that the settlers view him 
Ci in the light of an enemy, are circumstances that 
V 4 may promote unfavorable constructions of the 
Ci conduct of government. 



Sli 6 SKETCH OF TH« 

44 The public bodies which have lately asseifr- 
A bled in this city, have fully testified their disap- 
* 4 probation of hostilities on account of the disputes 
6i at, Wyoming ; and upon the whole, there is too 
* 4 much reason to be persuaded that the plan now 
* 4 meditated will, if carried into execution, produce 
*< very unhappy consequences. 

64 Knowing the uprightness of your intentions, 
44 Gentlemen, I feel great pain in dissenting from 
tf4 your judgment 5 and if the measure is pursue^ 
ii from esteem for you and affection for the Com- 
44 monwealth, I have only to wish, as I most hear- 
144 tily do, that I may be proved by the event to have 
4,4 been mistaken." 

The Council, on consideration of the letter from 
the President, 44 Resolved, That the measures 
" adopted on the second instant be pursued ;'" 
aad on the same day issued a proclamation^ 
off -ring a reward of twenty-five pounds for 
th;. apprehension of eighteen of the principal inhab- 
itants whose names were mentioned. 

Armstrong proceeded under his new appoint- 
ment to collect and organize the troops destined 
for the expedition to Wyoming ; but notwithstand- 
ing all the assistance which the Government could 
give him, in addition to his own exertions, he could 
not prevail upon the militia to undertake an expe- 
dition so revolting to their feelings, and on the 
14th. of October he commenced his march, at the 
head of forty men only, and arrived at Wyo ling 
on Sunday the 16th. The inhabitants on his ap- 
proach retired to Forty-fort, where they formed a 
garrison of about seventy men, and Arm strong. H&4 



HISTORY OF WYOMING. 15? 

being sufficiently strong to attack them, wrote to 
the Council for re-enforcements. Much exertion 
was made throughout the counties of Northamp- 
ton, Bucks and Berks, to raise troops for anoth- 
er expedition to Wyoming 5 but the public mind 
had become averse to the measure, and no re-en- 
forcements could be procured. Many of the peo- 
ple of Pennsylvania began to consider the inhabit- 
ants a persecuted people, and all the influence of 
the landholders in the Council and Assembly was 
necessary to maintain even a small armed force at 
post. This disposition of the public mind was 
much strengthened by the proceedings of the Coun- 
cil of Censors, to which President Dickinson allu- 
ded in his letter. 

By the first Constitution of Pennsylvania, whicli 
was established immediately after the Declaration 
of Independence, the Government of the Common- 
wealth was vested in a House of Representatives, 
a President, and Council. Another inefficient 
Council was also established, called the "Council 
of Censors," who were chosen by the people, and 
directed to meet every seventh year ; " and whose. 
ii duty it shall be," says the constitution, "to en- 
:i quire whether the constitution has been preser- 
ved inviolate in every part, and whether the 
4 ; Legislative and Executive branches of the Gov- 
ii eminent have performed their duty as guardians 
" of the people, or assumed to themselves, or exer- 
M cised, other or greater powers than they are en- 
* 4 titled to by the constitution. They are also to 
<6 enquire whether the public taxes have been just. 

N. 



158 SKETCH OF THE 

a \y laid and collected in all parts of the Common- 
;i wealth ; in what manner tlie public monies have 
" been disposed of, and whether the laws have been 
u duly executed. For these purposes they shall 
; i have power to send for persons, papers and re- 
" cords. They shall have authority to pass public 
i{ censures, to order impeachments, and to recom- 
**mend to the Legislature the repealing such laws 
4< as appear to them to have been enacted contrary 
;i to the principles of the constitution." 

This Council of Censors met at Philadelphia in 
the summer of 1784, and having received informa- 
tion of the transactions at Wyoming, on the 7th of 
September, ordered, that the President and Su- 
preme Executive Council should furnish certain 
document* in relation to their proceedings in the 
case of the Connecticut settlers, at and near that 
place : and that "William Bradford, Jun. and James 
Wilson, Esquires, Council for Pennsylvania in this 
case, should furnish all the documents in their 
hands on the subject. On the 8th. Mr. Bradford 
surrendered the documents in his hands in obedi- 
ence to the order, and the Secretary of the Supreme 
Executive Council informed the Council of Cen- 
sors by letter that the documents required of them 
had been transmitted to the General Assembly. 
On the following day the Council of Censors pas- 
sed a resolution requiring the General Assembly to 
furnish the said documents. The Assembly pro- 
ceeded immediately into the consideration of the 
crder, and passed a resolution refusing to comply 
with it. In consequence of this refusal on the 



HISTORY OF WYOMING. . 159 

part of the Assembly, the Council of Censors, on 
the lOtli. of the same.month, issued process against 
the General Assembly in the following words : 

" The Council of Censors, in the name, and by 
the authority of the people of Pennsylvania, to the 
General Assembly of the State of Pennsylvania, 
Send Greeting:— We demand of you that you with- 
out delay or excuse, forthwith send into this Coun- 
cil of Censors, the documents and papers hereun- 
der mentioned, now, as it is said, in your keeping, 
that is to say, the Report of the Committee ap- 
pointed the 9th. of December last, to enquire into 
the charges contained in a petition from a number 
of the inhabitants of Wyoming, and the papers and 
affidavits accompanying the same, and the letter 
from Zebulon Butler and others of Wyoming, read 
in the Supreme Executive Council on the 28th. of 
May, 1T84, and which was by them transmitted to 
the house. 

" Signed by order of the Council of Censors, 
now sitting in the State House, in the city of Phil- 
adelphia, on this 10th. day of September, Annq 
Domini, one thousand seven hundred and eighty 
four." 

"FREDERICK A. MUHLENBERG, 
President of the Council of Censors, 

*• Attest, Samuel Bryan, Secretary-" 

The mandamus of the Censors was received by 
the General Assembly with the utmost contempt, 
and the House, as if forgetful of the dignified char- 
acter of the Council, and unmindful of the high au- 
thority vested in them by the Constitution, rti 



160 SKETCH OE THE 

not only to send the required papers, but also to 
give any answer whatever to the process. When 
It was ascertained that no answer was to be expec- 
ted from the Assembly, the Council declared that 
* this unwarrantable conduct of the wrong doers 
themselves has but the more decidedly convinced 
this Council of the truth of the complaints of the 
settlers at Wyoming, and of the utter neglect of the 
Government to protect the oppressed inhabitants." 
On the same day the Council of Censors passed a 
public censure upon the conduct of the Govern- 
ment of Pennsylvania in relation to the Connec- 
ticut settlers in the following words : 

" It is the opinion of this Council that the decis- 
ion made at Trenton early in 1783, between the 
State of Connecticut and this Commonwealth, con- 
cerning the territorial rights of both, was favoura- 
ble to Pennsylvania. It likewise promised the 
happiest consequences to the confederacy, as an 
example was thereby set of two contending sov- 
ereignties adjusting their differences in a court of 
Justice, instead of involving themselves, and per- 
haps their confederates, in war and bloodshed. It 
is much to be regretted that this happy event was 
not improved on the part of this State as it might 
have been. — That the persons claiming lands at 
and near Wyoming, occupied by the emigrants 
from Connecticut, now become subjects of Penn- 
sylvania, were not left to prosecute their claims in 
the proper course without the intervention of the 
legislature. — That a body of troops was enlisted 
after the Indian war had ceased and the civil gov* 



HISTORY OF- WYOMING. 161 

ernment had been established, and stationed at 
Wyoming for no other apparent purpose than that 
of promoting the interests of the claimants under 
the former grants of Pennsylvania. — That these 
troops were kept up, and continued there, without 
the license of Congress, in violation of the confed- 
eration.— Tliat they were suffered, without res- 
traint to injure and oppress the neighboring inhab- 
itants, during the course of the last winter. — That 
the injuries done to these people excited the com- 
passion and interposition of the State of Connecti- 
cut, who thereupon demanded of Congress anoth- 
er hearing in order to investigate the private claim f 
of the settlers at Wyoming, formerly inhabitants 
of New England, who from this instance of partial- 
ity in our own rulers have been led to distrust the 
justice of the State, when in the mean time, num- 
bers of these soldiers, and other disorderly persons, 
in a most riotous and inhuman manner, expelled 
the New England settlers, before mentioned, from 
their habitations, and drove them towards the Del 
aware through unsettled and almost impassable 
ways, leaving those unhappy outcasts to suffer eve 
ry species of misery and distress. — That this arm- 
ed force stationed as aforesaid at Wyoming, as far 
as we can see, without any public advantage in 
view, has cost the Commonwealth the sum of — 
£4460, and upwards, for the bare levying, provi- 
ding, and paying of them, besides other expenditures 
of public monies. — That the authority for embody- 
ing these troops was given privately, and un- 
known to the good people of Pennsylvania, the 

N* 



J62 SKETCH GF THE 

£ame being directed by a mere resolve of the house 
of Assembly, brought in. and read the first time on 
Monday the 22d. September, 1783, when on mo- 
tion, and by special order, the same was read a 
second time and adopted. — That the putting this 
resolve on the secret journal of the House, and 
concealing it from the people, after the war with 
the savages had ceased, and the inhabitants of Wy- 
oming had submitted to the government of the 
State, sufficiently marks and fixes the clandestine 
and partial interest of the armament, no such con- 
dition having been thought necessary in the de- 
fence of toe northern and western frontiers during 
the Lite war. — And lastly, we regret the fatal ex- 
ample which this transaction has set of private per- 
sons, at least equally able with their opponents to 
maintain their own cause, procuring the interest 
of the Commonwealth in their behalf, and the 
aid of the public treasury. The opprobrium 
which from hence has resulted to this State, and 
the dissatisfaction and prospect of dissention, now 
existing with one of our sister States, the violation 
of the confederation, and the injury hereby done 
to such of the Pennsylvania claimants of lands at 
Wyoming, occupied as aforesaid, as have given no 
countenance to. but on the contrary have disavow- 
ed, these extravagant proceedings. In short, we 
lament that our government lias in this business 
manifested little wisdom, or foresight ; nor have 
acted as guardians of the rights of the people com- 
mitted to their care. Impressed with the multi- 
plied evils which have sprung from the imprudent 



HISTORY OF WYOMING. I6S*' 

management of this business, we hold it up to pub- 
lic censure, to prevent, if possible, further instan- 
ces of bad government, which might convulse and 
distract our new formed nation." 

Notwithstanding the respectable authority from 
which these opinions proceeded, and the public 
manner in which they were pronounced, the Su- 
preme Executive Council regarded them with as 
much indifference as they did the letter of the Pres- 
ident ; and as if anxious to show their contempt 
for public opinion, they not only sent Colonel 
Armstrong with a second expedition to Wyoming^ . 
but continued to exert their utmost endeavours to 
furnish him with re-enforcements. In this measure^ 
however, they totally failed, for the declaration 
pronounced by the Censors, furnished a reasona- 
ble excuse for refusing to obey the orders of the 
Council, and Colonel Armstrong and his forty men 
c ontinu 2d to occupy the Block House in the ruins 
of fort Dickinson, with a force too weak to support 
an extensive system of plunder, and the certainty 
of an approaching winter with a very limited 
means of support. 

The inhabitants who supported a garrison at 
Forty-fort, continued, under the protection of 
guards, to gather their corn ; but as they expected 
Armstrong would soon be in force sufficient to de- 
prive them of their means of subsistence, viewed 
the prospect before them as gloomy and discoura- 
ging. They however sent memorials to Congress, 
to the General zVssembly of Pennsylvania, and to 
the Legislature of Connecticut. To the last men- 



IG4 SKETCH OF THE 

tioned body they gave an account of the transac- 
tions at Wyoming for the last few years, alluded to 
the decision of the jurisdiction in favor of Pennsyl- 
vania, and of their submission to the authority of 
the State, but complained that although they sup- 
plicated like children, yet they found no protec- 
tion ; that their petitions to the government of 
Pennsylvania were treated with neglect, and the 
government instead of relieving their distresses, 
had sent an armed force against them ; that their 
numbers were at that time reduced to about two 
thousand souls, most of whom were women and chil- 
dren, driven in many cases from their proper habita- 
tions, and living in huts of bark in the woods, with- 
out provisions for the approaching winter, while the 
Pennsylvania troops and land claimants, were in 
possession of their houses and farms, and wasting 
and destroying their cattle and subsistence. The 
Legislature, then sitting at New Haven, in answer 
to this memorial, alluded to their want of Jurisdic- 
tion, recommended an application to Congress, and 
promised the aid and assistance of that Legislature,, 
both with Congress and the government of Penn- 
sylvania. 

As winter approached* Armstrong, finding that 
re-enforcements were not to be expected, abandon- 
ed the post at Wyoming, and having discharged 
his troops, returned to Philadelphia. Thus ended 
the last expedition fitted out by the government of 
Pennsylvania, to operate against her own peaceful 
citizens. Various attempts were made by the in- 
habitants of Wyoming, during the two succeeding 



HISTORY or WYOMING. 1^3 

years, to effect the appointment of a tribunal for 
trying the title to the lands between themselves 
and the Pennsylvania claimants, but all to no ef- 
fect, the government of Pennsylvania successfully 
interfering at all times to prevent it. At length 
the inhabitants concluded to propose a compromise 
©f their claims, and accordingly sent a memorial to 
the General Assembly, which was read in March 
1787, proposing that in case the Commonwealth 
would grant them the seventeen Townships which 
had been laid out, and in which settlements had 
been commenced previous to the decree at Trenton, 
they would on their part, relinquish all their claims 
to any other lands within the limits of the Susque- 
hanna purchase. These townships were Salem,, 
Newport, Hanover, Wilkesbarre, Pittston, North- 
moreland, Putnam, Braintrim, Springfield, Claver- 
ack, Ulster, Exeter, Kingston, Plymouth, Bedford, 
Huntington and Providence. The towns are rep- 
resented to be as nearly square as circumstancei 
would permit, and to be about five miles on a side, 
and severally divided into lots of three hundred 
acres each, as near as may be, of which one was to 
be appropriated to the use of the first settled minis- 
ter of the Gospel in fee — one for the Parsonage — 
and one for the support of a school — three to remain 
as public lots, subject to the future disposition of 
the Towns — and the remainder, to be appropriated 
to purchasers or settlers. In consideration of 
which arrangement being confirmed by the Assem- 
bly, the Pennsylvania claimants were to relinquish 
suck lands lying within those Township*, as the- 



1£6 SKETCH OF TUB 

State had previously granted to them. On the 
2oth. of the preceding September, an act had been 
passed, erecting all that part of Northumberland 
county, extending from the falls of Nescopeck to 
the northern boundary of the State, into a separate 
county, to be called "Luzerne," in honor of the 
Minister from France, the Chevalier de la Lu- 
zerne, who had a short time before the passage of 
the act, returned to Paris. This County included 
all the Wyoming settlements ; it had been erected 
at the request of the inhabitants, and furnished an 
evidence that the measures of the government would 
in future be less hostile to their peace and security. 
On the 28th. of March, 1787, an act was passed, 
complying with the request of the inhabitants in re- 
lation to their lands. Commissioners were appoint- 
ed to cause a re-survey of the lots claimed by the 
respective settlers, and to give them Certificates of 
the regularity of their claims. These Commission- 
ers were Timothy Pickering, William Montgome- 
ry, and Stephen Balliot, Esquires, who proceeded 
to Wyoming and entered upon the duties of theiy 
appointments. Although a very large proportion 
of the inhabitants resided within the seventeen 
Townships, yet there were many whose farms were 
not situated within those limits, and as they were 
consequently not included among the number of 
Those to whom the law would apply, they made a 
determined opposition to its execution. Their 
object appears to have been to contend for the whole 
ierrit.jry, or to procure such terms as would satisfy 
all the inhabitants A number of those persons 



HlftTOllY OF WYOMING. IQf 

having been informed that the Commissioners had 
arrived, and were about to proceed in executing the 
law, came down from Wyalusing and that vicinity 
in the night, and seizing Colonel Pickering, 
returned with him a prisoner. A company of about 
fifteen men under the command of Capt. William 
Ross, pursued the rioters, but as they had conceal- 
ed themselves in the woods, among the mountains 
of Malioopeny, the place of their retreat was not 
easily ascertained, particularly as dieir movements 
were only in the night ; for during the day they 
lay concealed to guard their prisoner, who was 
kept bound to a tree. About the dawn of the day., 
Capt. Ross' company fell in with a company of the 
rioters near the mouth of Meshoppen creek, and a 
skirmish ensued, in which Capt. Ross was wound- 
ed. Col. Myers and Capt. Schotts also proceed- 
ed, with a portion of the militia, in pursuit of the 
rioters, whose retreat was at length ascertained, 
and the party having rescued Col. Pickering, re- 
turned with him to Wilkesbarre. A sword was af- 
terwards presented to Capt. Ross, by the Supreme 
Executive Council, for his gallantry in this affair. 

Against the execution of this law, there was also 
opposed another and more powerful class of citi- 
zens. These were those persons, principally in- 
habitants of Pennsylvania, to whom the State had 
previously sold a great portion of these lands, and 
who considered, and perhaps very justly, that the 
Legislature had no authority to deprive them of 
their lands, with a view to dispose of them again to 
the claimants under Connecticut. Such was Hi? 



168 SKETCH Otf THE 

effect of the opposition that the next year tne act. 
was suspended, and afterwards entirely repealed. 
Thus the question of title was again thrown into 
its former position, and during the ten succeeding 
years, continued to retard the settlement of the 
country, and to create continual contention and dis- 
trust between the respective claimants : but the sit- 
uation of the inhabitants of Wyoming was very 
different from what it had been in the former stages 
of the controversy. They were represented in the 
General Assembly by one of their own number, and 
they were the executors of the laws within their 
own district. Pennsylvania had adopted a new 
Constitution, and was governed by a more liberal 
policy. Petitions were again presented to the 
Legislature, praying for the passage of another law 
upon the principles of the one which had been re- 
pealed, and in April, 1779, an act was passed pro- 
viding for a final settlement of the controversy, so 
far as related to the inhabitants of the seventeen 
Townships. By this act Commissioners were ap- 
pointed to cause a survey to be made of all the 
lands claimed by the Connecticut settlers, and 
which had been assigned to such settlers previous 
to the decision at Trenton, according to the ruled 
and regulations amongst them. They were also to 
value the lands — to divide them into four classes, 
according to the quality — to make out a certificate 
for each claimant, specifying the number of acres 
and the class or quality of the land, and the num- 
ber of ''his lot, and to annex to the certificate a draft 
cjf the same*. The same Commissioners were also 



HISTORY OF WYOMIXG. 1$9 

to cause a re-survey to be made of all the rands 
claimed by the Pennsylvania claimants, situated in 
the seventeen townships, which should be released 
or re»conveyed by such claimants to the Com- 
monwealth; and to divide the same into four chid- 
es, according to the quality of the land. As soon 
as forty thousand acres should be so released to 
the state, and the Connecticut settlers claiming 
land to the same amount, should bind themselves 
to submit to the determination of the Commission- 
ers, then the law was to take effect ; and the Penn- 
sylvania claimants who had so released their land, 
were to receive a compensation for the same from 
the State Treasury, at the rate of five dollars per 
acre for lands of the first class, three dollars for 
the second, one dollar and fifty cents for the third, 
and twenty -five cents for lands of tne fourth class; 
The Connecticut settlers were also to receive 
patents from the State confirming their lands to 
them upon condition of paying into the Treasury 
the sum of two dollars per acre, for lands of the 
first class, one dollar and twenty cents for lands 
of the second class, fifty cents for lands of the third 
class, and eight and one third cents for lands of 
the fourth class ; the certificates issued by the Com- 
missioners to regulate t]\e settlement of accounts 
in both cases. Thus while the State was selling 
her vacant lands to her other citizens, at twenty- 
six cents an acre, she demanded of the Connecti- 
cut settlers a sum, which, upon the supposition 
that there was the same quantity of land in each 
dass ? would average ninety-four cents an acre.-*. 

O 



170 SKETCH OP THE 

Compensation was made to the Pennsylvania 
claimant only in cases where the warrant and sur- 
vey were executed previous to the passage of the 
law of 1787. This act which is commonly called 
the " Compensation Law,'' has been carried into 
full effect, and has been the principal cause of 
finally terminating that long and bloody contro- 
versy, in which the troubles of Wyoming princi- 
pally originated. 

As this law, however, affected those lands in the 
seventeen Townships only, and as a large body ot 
lands in the Northern parts of the County contin- 
ued to be settled very fast, principally by emigrants 
from New England, claiming under the Connecti- 
cut title, the Legislature became apprehensive that, 
unless those settlements were checked, another 
sj^stem of opposition to the laws would be formed, 
and accordingly, on the eleventh of April, 1795, 
passed an act to prevent intrusions on lands in the 
counties of Northumberland and Luzerne, which 
provided that any person who should come to settle 
on any lands in those counties, under any title not 
derived from the State of Pennsylvania, should be 
subject to a fine of one thousand dollars, and to 
imprisonment at hard labor, not exceeding eighteen 
months. An Agent was appointed to reside at 
Wyoming, to enquire into offences committed 
against the law ; and every male person above the 
age of twenty-one years, coming to reside within 
the counties of Wayne, Northampton, Luzerne, 
Northumberland or Lycoming, was directed to de- 
liver within three months from the time of his 



'• 



KISTOEY OF WYOMING. 171 

arrival, under the penalty of forty dollars to the 
3 gent or his deputy — -sheriff or constable, a written 
declaration of his name and place of abode, and of 
the State or foreign Country in which he last re- 
sided 5 and also whether he claimed any, and what 
lands within the Common wealth, and the title under 
which he claimed the same. The Governor was 
.also authorized to call out the militia to carry the 
act into effect. This act, together with a supple- 
ment passed in 1801, form the last of those dis- 
graceful measures which the records of Pennsyl- 
vania exhibit against the persecuted inhabitants of 
Wyoming. The Agent attempted a few prosecu- 
tions under this law, but the Courts neglected to 
carry it into effect, and this, like many previous 
measures, proved an abortive attempt to effect 
what the permanent laws of the Commonwealth 
had provided other means to accomplish. Those 
claims having at length been quieted, and the 
Pennsylvania titles fully established, the two 
counties of Bradford and Susquehanna were erect- 
ed, and the Wyoming controversy finally became 
extinct. The New England emigrants have be- 
come obedient, industrious and valuable citizens 
in their adopted State ; and Wyoming, under the 
present mild and liberal government of Pennsyl- 
vania, enjoys that repose which a long train of 
unparalleled sufferings had rendered necessary to 
her happiness and prosperity. 



.72 SKETCH 0E THE 



•TOTE I. 

The Following is the signification of several 
Indian names which are still retained at and near 
Wyoming • 

Hanna or Hannah' •••Signifies a stream of water. 

Susquehanna^** Muddy or riley river. 

LechatO" "The forks, or point of intersection. 
The Lehigh River is still pronounced 4 Lechaiv? 
by the Germans. 

Lechaw-Jmnna* •••The meeting of two streams. 
Hence our name * Lackawanna'' 

■Tope-Jumna* •••Alder stream, or stream having 
alders growing along its banks. Hence tiie name 
* Toby hanna. ' 

Tonk-honna* •••Two smaller streams falling into 
a larger one opposite to each other. Hence the 
name Tktrikhannock, which in the Indian language' 
included Timkannock and Boiomutfs creek, with 
an additional term to designate one from the other. 

Mawshapj,**** Cord or reed stream.. Hence. 
Meshoppen. 

Nescopeck or Nesckoppeck****DeQ]>, black water. 

TyaogO""K word of the Six Nations, signifying 
** gate'' or "door," a figurative expression. The 



HISTORY OF WYOMING. 173 

Delawares say the North door of their Council 
House was at the head of tide on the North or Hud- 
son river, and the South door at the head of the 
tide on the Potomac. 

Nawpawnollend* • • »The place where the messen- 
gers were murdered. This word by a corruption 
has become " Wapwallopen. " In Luzerne it signi- 
fied the stream near which was murdered Thomas 
Hill, a messenger from the Governor of Pennsylva- 
nia to the Indians at Wyoming. 

Woaphollaughpink' • •* A place where white hemp 
grows. Hence ihe name " Wapaliawly." 

Maugh Chunk'" Signifies Bear Mountain. — ■ 
The village of Mauch Chunk is at the foot of (his 
mountain, and on a stream of the same name, i. e. 
Bear Mountain Creek. 

The above particulars, and many of the inci- 
dents of the early Indian History, were communi- 
cated to the writer by the Rev. John Heckawelder, 
of Bethlehem, when he was compiling his History 
of the American Indians, and have been omitted in 
that work, as he informed the author they would 
l*£j in consequence of that communication. 



O* 



174 SKETCH OP THE 



"NOTE II. 

The following is a copy of the articles of capitu- 
lation agreed upon after the Battle of Wyoming.. 
Westmoreland, 4th July, 1778. 

" Capitulation agreement — Made and com- 
pleted between John Butler, in behalf of his Ma- 
jesty King George the Third, and Colonel Nathan 
Denison of the United States of America. 

.j" Article I. It is agreed that the settlement lay- 
down their arms, and their garrison be demolished. 

Article II. That the inhabitants occupy their 
farms peaceably, and the lives of the inhabitants 
be preserved entire and unhurt. 

Article III. That the Continental stores are 
to be given up. 

Article IV. That Colonel Butler will use his 
utmost influence that the private property of the in- 
habitants shall be. preserved entire to them. 

Article V. That the prisoners in Forty fort be 
delivered up. 

Article VI. That the property taken from the 
people called Tories, be made good : and that they 
remain in peaceable possession of their farms, and 
unmolested in a free trade through this settlement. 

Article VII. That the inhabitants which Col. 
"Denison capitulates for, together with himself, do 
not take up arms during this contest. 
(Signed) " JOHN BUTLER, 

"•.NATHAN DENISON." 



HISTORY OF WYOMING. 175 



NOTE III. 

List of the officers killed at the Battle of Wyo^ 
•ming, July 3, 1778. 

Lieutenant Colonel — George Dorrance. 

Major— -Wait Garret. 

CAPTAINS.— Dottrick Hewet, Robert Dun 
kee,* Aholab Buck, Asa Whittlesey, Lazarus 
Stewart, Samuel Ransom,* James Bidlack, ■ 

Geere, McKanachin, Wigdon.* 

LIEUTENANTS.— Timothy Pierce,* James 
Welles,* Elijah Shoemaker, Lazarus Stewart, 2d, 
Peren Ross,* Asa Stevens. 

ENSIGNS.— Asa Gore, Avery. 

iVb/e.— Those with this mark (*) were the five 
who arrived from the continental army just before 
-the battle. 



APPENDIX. 

LUZERNE COUNTY, in nearly the centre of 
which lies the Valley of Wyoming, is bounded N. by 
Susquehanna and Bradford ; E. by Wayne ; S. E. 
by Wayne, Pike and Northampton ; S. by Schuyl- 
kill ; S. W. by Columbia 5 and W- by Columbia 
and Lycoming. Its territory averages about A5 
miles in length, from north to south, and 40 miles 
in breadth, from east to west, and contains about 
1 800 square miles. The Susquehanna river enters 
the County near its north-west angle, thence run- 
ning a N. E. direction, and crossing the mountain 
ridges nearly at right angles, it breaks into the 
Wyoming valley near the mouth of the Lackawan- 
nock river 5 thence it turns and runs S. W. about 
:Zi) miles, where it breaks through the mountain 
out of the valley, and continues generally the same 
course until it passes out of the county a little 
below the mouth of the Nescopeck creek. It is 
mountainous, and the mountains run in parrallel 
ridges in a S. W. and N. E. direction. The 
soil of thevallies is generally of an excellent qual- 
ity, and well adapted to the growing of grain : that 
of the highlands, is better adapted to grazing.—- 
Perhaps one half of its whole surface may be 
cultivated, and the greater portion of the other half 
may advantageously be used for pasturage. 

By the census of 1810, Luzerne county con- 
tained a population of 18,109. It then included 
the whole of Susquehanna, and the most populous 
portion of Bradford. By the census of 1820, 
Luzerne contained a population of 20,027 \ Sus- 
quehanjia 9,960, and Bradford 11,554. Total 



ITS APPENDIX. 

population in the three counties 41,541— showing 
an increase in the three counties, in the ten years, 
of at least 100 per cent. It is believed that the 
census of 1830, will shew a population in Luzerne 
of more than 30,000. 

Luzerne county is divided into twenty-six 
townships. Their names, alphabetically arranged^ 
with their boundaries, and a brief description of 
each, follow. There are occasionally introduced 
some scraps of local history, which will, it is hoped, 
be interesting, if not to the general reader, at least, 
to the people of the neighborhood. 

Abington is bounded N. by Nicholson ; E. by 
Greenfield ', S. by Providence ; S. W. by Falls., 
and VV. by Tunkhannock. Its timber is princi- 
pally beech, sugar-maple, ash, red cherry and 
temlock. Tributaries of the Tunkhannock and 
Lackawannock, either head in, or flow through, 
this township, which afford many excellent mill 
sites ; and springs of the purest water may be found 
en almost eveiy hundred acres of land. 

The soil is better adapted to grazing, than the 
growing of grain. When once cleared, white 
clover springs up spontaneously, and grows luxu- 
riantly. Timothy is the principal grass cut for 
fodder, of which from one to two tons per acre are 
produced. A considerable portion of this township 
is settled, and some part of it pretty well cultivated. 
Wild lands of a good, quality are selling here at 
from three to jive dollars per acre. This township 
produces annually for market, considerable quan- 
tities of maple sugar, butter, cheese, (of a good 
quality,) wool, domestic flannels and linens, oats, 
horses, cattle and sheep. 

The Philadelphia and Great Bend turnpike road 
passes nearly through its centre — an act has been 
passed to authorize the incorporation of a Company 
for making a turnpike from this township to Mont- 
rose, and^ township x'oads are opened in every 



APPENDIX, 1T9 

direction. The settlers are principally from New 
England, and are a hardy, industrious and thri- 
ving people. School houses are erected in every 
neighborhood, in which schools are kept during 
the greater part of the year. 

Abington is situate about 25 miles N. E. from* 
Wilkes- Barre, has three post-offices, and contains 
about 1300 inhabitants. 

Blakeley is bounded N. by the county of Sus- 
quehanna ; E. by the county of Wayne ; S. E. 
by Covington ; S. W. by Providence, and N. 
W. by Greenfield. This township was called 
Blakeley from respect to the memory of Capt. 
Johnston Blakeley, who commanded the U. S. sloop 
of war JFasp, and who signalized himself in an 
engagement with the British sloop Avon. 

The timber in the northern part of this township, 
is principally beech, maple, hemlock, ash and cher- 
ry $ in the southern, it is pine, oak, hickory and 
chesnut. The Lackawannock enters it near its 
N. E. angle, and flows S. W. until it intersects 
lis south-western boundary, a distance of about 15 
Riiles, dividing it into nearly two equal parts. 

The Anthracite coal formation commences near 
the sources of the Lackawannock, not far fromBel- 
mont, the residence of Thomas Meredith, Esquire, 
and extends through the whole valley of the Lack- 
awannock, cropping out upon the hills and moun- 
tains on each side. It is every where exposed in 
the bottom and banks of the river, and in all the 
little ravines formed by its tributaries. It is mined 
with little expense — its strata having very little 
dip. The coal lands of the Hudson and Delaware 
Canal Company are located in this township. The 
rail-road from the basin at the western termination 
of the Lackawaxen canal, terminates here ; and 
Carbondale, a village containing several stores, 
mechanics shops, and well-built dwelling houses, 
and about 400 inhabitants, has grown up, upon a 



3 80 APPENDIX. 

spot where two years since but a single log cabin 
was to be found. The Company have constructed 
&n excellent artificial road from Carbondale to 
intersect the Milford and Owego turnpike upon 
the top of Moosic mountain, at Mix's Gap. a dis- 
iance of about three miles ; — the Milford and 
Owego turnpike passes through the northern Divis- 
ion of this township : the Luzerne and Wayne 
county turnpike passes through its eastern, and the 
Clifford and Wiikesbarre turnpike through its 
western divisions ; and a company has, been incor- 
porated for making a turnpike road from Carbon- 
dale, along the Lackawannock river, to intersect 
the Clifford and Wilkes-Barre turnpikey a distance 
of about ten miles, from whence there is an excel- 
lent road to Wilkes-Barre. 

A considerable portion of this township will 
admit of cultivation. Numerous mill sites are 
furnished by the Lackawannock and its tributaries. 
It is situate about S3 miles N. E. from Wilkes- 
Barre— has two post-offices, and contains a popula- 
tion of about 1000 souls. 

Braintrim is bounded N. by the county of 
Susquehanna ; E. and S. E. by Tunkhannock ; 
S, by the Susquehanna river, which separates it 
from W 7 indham ? and W. by the eounty of 
Bradford. 

The river bottom in this township was originally 
covered with black walnut : from which it is called 
"Black Walnut Bottom." The hills produce 
pine, oak and hickory, and will generally admit oi 
culture, and when improved, produce good crops 
of summer and winter grain, The Tuscarora, 
&nd the big and little Meshoppen creeks, afford 
excellent mill sites. A Woollen factory has been 
in operation for several years upon the big Meshop- 
pen, furnishing a market for wool, and manufac- 
turing excellent cloths for the surrounding country. 
Th<? worthy proprietory Messrs. Sterling and 



APPEJMJIX. 181 

Parker, deserve great praise for their persevering 
exertions in this branch of domestic manufactures. 

A considerable surplus of agricultural products, 
and large quantities of lumber, are annually pro- 
duced, and floated down theSusquehanna to market. 

Braintrim is situate about 40 miles N. W. from 
Wilkes-Barre. The great post road from Tunk- 
hannock to Athens, passes through it. It has a 
post-office, and contains 700 inhabitants. 

Covington, (so named in honor of Brig. Gen. 
Covington of the army of the United States, who 
fell in the battle of Williamsburg in U. C. during- 
the late war,) is bounded E. by Wayne county, S. 
E. and S. by the Lehigh river, which separates 
it from Pike and Northampton counties ; S. W. 
by Bear creek, which separates it trom Wilkes- 
Barre ; and N. W, by Pittston ? Providence and 
Blakeley. 

Its timber is pine, beech, maple, birch, ash and 
hemlock. There is a very thriving settlement in 
its northern division upon the lands of Henry W m 
Drinker, Esquire. Although its surface is very 
uneven and mountainous, much of it may be culti- 
vated, and most of it will make excellent pasturage, 
especially for sheep. The experiment of keeping 
sheep upon the wild and uncultivated mountains 
and highlands in this and Wilkes-Barre townships, 
during the spring and summer months, has been 
tried for several successive years. The result has 
proved most favourable. Sheep return from the 
mountains in the autumn, greatly improved in 
health, flesh and fleece. 

The Philadelphia and Great Bend turnpike pas- 
ses through its northern division, and the Easton 
and Wilkes-Barre turnpike and great stage road, 
through its southern. Stoddartsvllle, at the great 
falls of the Lehigh, was., a few years since, a very 
flourishing village. It has felt the pressure of the 
time^ and is now going to decay. This is the. 



1 82 APFEXDIX. 

extreme point to which the Lehigh Coal and Navi- 
gation Company, are authorized to extend 'heir 
improvements in the navigation of that I iver. 
The contemplated Canal or Rail Road from he 
mouth of the Lackawannock to the Water Gap 
upon the Delaware, must pass through this town- 
ship. Its streams afford abundant and never-fail- 
ing mill power, and its forest the choicest of timber, 

it has two post-offices and contains about 500 
Inhabitants. 

Dallas, is bounded N. E. by Northmoreland -j 
S. E. by Kingston and Plymouth 5 and S. \V. by 
Lehman. It is called Dallas, in honor of the late 
Alexander J. Dallas, Esquire, of the city of Phil- 
adelphia, one of the most distinguished citizens of 
Pennsylvania. 

Its timber is pine, oak, hickory and chesnut. A 
good portion of its soil will admit of cultivation,, 
altfe ftigh its surface is very uneven, and part of it 
mountainous. 

Harvey's lake, a beautiful sheet of water, sur- 
rounded with romantic scenery, and stored with 
the iinest of trout, perch and sunfish, lies in this 
township, and is the resort of parties of pleasure 
during the summer months. The outlet of this 
lake, Bowman's creek, and other streams, furnish 
excellent mill power. 

Dallas is situate about 8 miles N. W. from 
Wilkes-Barre, and contains about 500 inhabitants. 

Eaton, (so named, in honor of General William 
Eaton, a native of Massachusetts, ami hero oi' 
Demo, in Barbara,) is bounded N. N. E. and E, 
by the Susquehanna river, which separates it from 
Tunkhannoek aiid Falls ; S. by Northmoreland $ 
and N. W. by Windham. It is generally hilly, 
some part of it mountainous, but a good portion ot 
it may be cultivated. It produces some agricultu- 
ral products, and considerable lumber for market* 
The irreatstaa-e route from Wilkes-Barre to Mont' 



APPENDIX. ioS 

rose* passes through it. It is situate about 25 
miles north of Wiikes-Barre 5 has a post-office, 
contains about 600 inhabitants. 

Exeter, is bounded N. by the Susquehanna 
river and Falls ; E. and S. E. by Providence and 
Pittston ; S. W. by Kingston ; and N. W. by 
Northmoreland. 

Its timber is similar to that of Dallas. Its sur- 
face is very uneven. Part of its soil is excellent, 
and most of it may be cultivated. 

The southern angle of this township includes 
part of Abraham's Plains, the celebrated battle 
ground of the 3d July, 1778, where the whole mili- 
tary force of the valley, under the command of 
Colonels Butler aodlienison, were drawn into an 
ambuscade, and literally cut to pieces by the Brit- 
ish, Indians and tories, under the command of the 
British Col. Butler, and the Indian chief, Brandt. 

Near the battleground stood a fort called Win- 
termoot's, after a notorious and blood thirsty tory 
of that name, who claimed the adjacent land. Old 
Wintcnnoot, after having done all the mischief he 
could to our naked and defenceless frontier settle-. 
ments, removed to, and settled in Canada. After 
the revolution, Col. John Jenkins, an American 
officer, and a citizen of the valley, entered upon 
Wintermoot's claim, as a Connecticut settler, and 
renamed in possession until his death in 1327". 
During the late war, whilst our army was in pos- 
session of the British fort Erie, and the enemy lay 
in its vicinity, a son of the old tory, who was a 
Lieut, in the British army, commanded one of the 
enemies advanced piquets. A volunteer from 
Bradford county, was stationed at one of our 
piquets in the neighborhood. Young Wintermoot 
one day left his pest, and advanced alone toward: 
our lines, for the purpose, it is presumed, of recou- 
noitering our position, when he was discovered at 
some distance by our volunteer, who was advancing 



184 APPENDIX. 

alone upon a similar errand towards the enemies 
lines. Our volunteer was armed with his rifle, 
which in his hands never missed its mark. He 
took good aim, fired, brought young Wintermoot 
to the ground, and returned to the fort with the 
arms and commission of his enemy. Thus* after 
the lapse of nearly 40 years, were the iniquities of 
the father visited upon the son. The battle ground 
is within a mile of the northern extremity of the 
valley, and about 10 miles by the road N. E. from 
Wilkes-Barre. Subscriptions have recently been 
solicited throughout the valley for the purpose of 
erecting a monument to the memory of those who 
fell in that disastrous battle. The object is praise 
worthy, and it is hoped, will not fail of being ac- 
complished.. 

The great stage road and turnpike from Wilkes- 
Barre to Montrose, passes through Exeter, and over 
the battle ground. Exeter has a post-office, and 
contains about 800 inhabitants. 

Falls, is bounded N. W. by Tunkhannock : N, 
E. by Abington ; S. E. by Providence and Exe- 
ter 5 and S. W. by the Susquehanna, which sepa- 
rates it from Exeter, Northmoreland and Eaton. 

This township derives its name from a beautiful 
cascade in Buttermilk falls creek 5 a handsome 
view of which, engraved from a sketch by the late 
Jacob Cist, Esq. formed a frontispiece for one of 
the numbers of the Port Folio, several years since. 

Its timber is white and yellow pine, oak, hicko- 
rv, chesnut, and some beech, maple and hemlock. 

Its surface is very uneven—part of it mountain- 
ous 5 but a considerable portion of its soil produces 
good crops of grain and grass. It furnishes a con- 
siderable quantity of lumber annually for market. 
It is situate about 18 miles north of Wilkes-Barre, 
and contains about 500 inhabitants. 

Greenfield, is bounded on the N. by Susque- 
hanna county ; E. and S. E. by Blakeley ; S by 



APPENDIX, IS 5 

Providence ; and W. by Abington and Nicholson. 

Its timber is beech, maple, ash, red cherry and 
hemlock. Its soil is generally of an excellent. 
quality — better adopted to grazing than the grow» 
log of grain. It produces annually for market, 
considerable surplus quantities of maple sugar, 
butter, cheese, (of an excellent quality,) oats, do- 
mestic flannels and linens, horses, cattle and sheep, 

Chapman's lower Chrystal, and part of upper 
Chrystal lakes, lie within this township $ and 
several of the branches of the Tunkhannock and 
Lackawannock, have their sources in it, which 
furnish sufficient mill sites. Wild lands of a 
superior quality are selling here at from three to 
jive dollars per acre. The Milford and Owego 
turnpike road crosses its north-eastern angle, and 
the Clifford and Wilkes-Barre passes jiearly 
through its centre, from north to south. 

The fiourishing village of Dundaff, in Susque- 
hanna county, is located near its northern bounda- 
ry, and the village of Carbondale is springing; up 
like magic near its eastern border. The settlers 
are generally from New England— hardy, industri- 
ous and intelligent. Their prospects are very 
flattering ; and evcy circumstance conspires to 
invite settlers. Indeed, no portion of northern 
Pennsylvania, presents stronger inducements, and 
more favorable prospects to the New England 
emigrants, than Greenfield, and the neighboring 
townships of Abington, Blakeley and Nicholson. 

It is situate about 30 miles N. E. from Wilkes- 
Barre. It has a post office, and contains about 1200 
inhabitants. 

Hanover, is bounded N. E. by Wilkes-Barre ■$ 
'E. and S. E. by the Lehigh and Northampton 
county ; S. W. by Sugarloaf and Newport ; and 
N. W. by the Susquehanna river, which separates 
it from Union and Plymouth. 

Tnat portion of this township which lies in the 

P* 



136 AP*»E^DIX, 

Wyoming valley, is thickly settled, and the land 
is nf an excellent quality, and well cultivated. 
The mountainous part is covered with timber, 
consisting of white and yellow pine, oak, hickory 
and chesnut ; some portion of which may be cul- 
tivated. 

Anthracite coal is found every where in this 
township, from the river t;> near the summit of the. 
mountain, a distance of two or three miles. The 
argillaceous iron stone abounds in the mountain, 
and it is believed of sufficient richness to justify 
its being worked upon an extensive scale. 

In the eastern division of this township, are the 
eastern branch of the Nantieoke, and Solomon's 
creek, which are pretty good mill streams. In 
this latter stream, about mid-way up the moun- 
tain, and two miles from Wilkes- Barre, in which 
is called Solomon's Gap, is a beautiful cascade, 
which lias Ions; been visited as a great natural curi- 
osity. Its wild and romantic aspect, and the de- 
lightful natural scenery around it, have, within a 
few years, been considerably injured by the erec- 
tion of a very superior merchant mill immediately 
below the fails, by General William Ross, of 
Wiikes-Barre, who is the proprietor of this valuable 
water power. But the lovers of nature and of art, 
are still highly gratified with a visit to this roman- 
tic spot. 

In its eastern division are Pine, Wright's, Ter- 
rapin ponds, and Sandy creek ; which empty into 
the Lehigh, and the sources of the Nescopeck and 
the bir: and little Wapwallopen, which How into 
the Susquehanna. 

Penobscot Nol\ the highest peak of the moun- 
tain in tins township, affords an extensive and 
sublime prospect. Standing upon its apex, you 
look down upon the suit mnding country as upon 
a map. To the west and south-west, the vallies 
of the west branch, Penn, Buffalo and Bald Eagle 



APPENDIX. 187 

creeks, and the majestic Allegheny, in Centre 
county, are plainly seen, whilst the intervening 
mountains dwindle in the view into gentle undu- 
lations. Here, whilst he contemplates the vast 
prospect around him, man feels his own littleness, 
and, instinctively turning to the great Author of 
all, exclaims, "what is man, that thou art mind- 
ful of -him !" 

Hanover was originallv settled by emigrants from 
Paxton and Hanover, then Lancaster, now Dau- 
phin and Lebanon counties, who came on under the 
Connecticut title in 1769, among whom was the 
late Judge Hollenback. 

Judge Hollenback took an early and active part- 
in the revolutionary war ; was honored with a 
commission in the army, by the Continental Con- 
gress ; participated in the conflict relative to the 
right of soil and jurisdiction to this part of the 
country 5 was complimented with various ap- 
pointments, civil and military, by his fellow-citi- 
zens and the Government; enjoyed the abundant 
fruits of an active and temperate life, and died at 
the advanced age of 77, on the 18th of Feb. 1829* 

The original settlers in this township have given 
pJa.ce to the Germans, who now compose the prin- 
cipal part of the population. They are an honest, 
industrious and punctual people. 

Hanover furnishes annually large surplus quan- 
tities of wheat, rye, Indian corn and pork, which 
has hitherto been transported by waggons to Easton, 
and laterly to Mauch Chunk, to market. The 
great stage route from Wilkes-Barre to Harnsburg, 
passes through it. Nanticoke falls is near its 
western angle, which will be more particularly 
noticed in (he description of Newport. Jt contains 
about 1000 inhabitants. 

Huntington, is bounded N. E. by Union and Sa- 
lem ; S. E. by Salem ; S. W. and W. by Colom- 
bia county ; and N. W. by Lycoming county. 



16S A2PENBIS. 

Its timber is pine, oak, chesnut and hickory, anfl 
i'n its north-western angle, some beech, maple and 
hemlock. Its surplus products are pork, whiskey 5 
and the various kinds of grain, which it produces in 
considerable quantities. Huntington and Green 
creeks flow through this township, and furnish 
good mill sites. Anthracite coal has been discov- 
ered in this township, and it is not known that it 
has been found in any considerable quantities on 
the west of the Susquehanna, south of this. It is a 
populous and thriving township. It has three 
post-offices, and contains 1500 inhabitants. 

Kingston, is bounded N. E. by Exeter? S. E« 
by the Susquehanna river, which separates it from. 
Pittston and Wiikes-Barre ; S. W. by Plymouth 
and Dallas. 

This township has a large portion of first rate 
limber, The mountain is of gentle declivity, and 
its soil is good, and produces abundantly. It 
yields annually, large surplus quantities of wheat, 
rye, Indian corn, pork and whiskey, which are 
either floated down the Susquehanna, or trans- 
ported hy waggons across the mountains to Easton, 
to market. 

It contains two villages — Kingston, quite upon 
its southern boundary, and New Troy near its 
northern ■; each of winch has a post-office, and 
contains several stores and mechanics' shops. 
Kingston village is at present most flourishing. 
School houses are erected in every neighborhood, 
hi which schools are kept up during the greater 
part of the year. They are partly supported by 
the annual income from lands, winch were 
originally appropriated to that purpose by the 
Connecticut settlers. Had the government of 
Pennsylvania made similar provision for each town- 
ship in the Commonwealth, its advantages, judg- 
ing from all experience, and particularly from the 
practical effect of the Connecticut system of Com- 



APrENBIX. 189 

mon School support, from which the original set- 
tlers in Kingston took the hint, would have been 
incalculable. The day is past for this species of 
provision ; but it is believed if Pennsylvania pros- 
ecutes and completes her system of internal im- 
provement, the time is not distant, taken its income 
will be. abundantly sufficient to extinguish the debt 
incurred, and make ample provision for the Com- 
mon School education of every child in this Com- 
monwealth, 

Anthracite coal abounds in this township, and 
it is not known that it has been found further to the 
north on the west side of the Susquehanna river. 
Abraham's, and Toby's creeks are pretty good 
mill streams. 

In this township are to be seen some remains of 
an ancjent fortification, similar to those found up- 
on the western waters. They bear the impress of 
an advanced knowledge in the art of war. Here 
also are the remains of Forty fort, to which Col. 
Denison, with a feeble remnant of his corps, reti- 
red after the battle of the 3d of July, 1778. It 
was from this fort that the Colonel was compelled 
to negociate for the safety of the aged and infirm — 
and for the widows and orphans which that disas- 
trous battle had made. It was here that articles 
of capitulation were agreed upon, and the pledge of 
safety given by Butler, the British commander. 
The preceding history tells how soon that pledge 
was violated. 

Part of the battle ground lies in the north-eastern 
angle of this township. The remains of those who 
fell, were here collected, and hastily and "sadh" 
interred. The wealthy, intelligent and liberal 
citizens of Kingston, and of the valley, can hardly 
permit so interesting a spot to remain long without 
a "raised stone." and a " carved line," as a me- 
morial of their fallen kindred and friends. 

The great stage route, from Wilkes-Barre to 



APPEND!^ 

Montrose, passes through this township. It has 
three post-oifices, and contains about Id 00 inhab- 
itants. 

Lehman, is bounded N. E. by Windham and 
Northmoreland ; S. E. by Plymouth ; S. W- by 
Union ; and N* W. by Lycoming county. 

This township was organized in November, 
1839 ; its name was intended as a tribute of respect 
to the late Doctor William Lehman, of the city of 
Philadelphia, for many years a member of the 
House of Representatives, chairman of the com- 
mittee of internal improvement and inland naviga- 
tion, and a distinguished and active friend and 
advocate of the great system of canal and rail road 
improvement, adopted in Pennsylvania, and which 
promises incalculable advantages to the Common- 
wealth. He had visited the great public works in 
Europe ; had witnessed their operations, and re- 
turned with a mind well stored with useful infor- 
mation upon the subject. He died at Harrrisburg 
during the session of the Legislature of 1828-9. 
whilst attending to his duties as a member. His 
fellow members of the House of Representatives, 
decreed him a tomb-stone, to be erected at the 
public expense. 

This township is very uneven ; the great range 
of the Allegheny passes through its north-western- 
division ; yet much of it may b? cultivated. The 
timber is pine, oak, hickory, chesnut, with some 
beech, maple ad hemlock. It contains several 
si .all lakes, one of which at the head of the wes- 
tern tributary of Harvey's creek, is here called 
Lehfnan's lake ; and the tributary itself, of which 
the lake is the source, is called Lehman's ci k* 
Harvey's, B.vvman's and Mahoopeny creeks flow: 
through it, and afford numerous mill sites. 

It has a post-office, and contains about 400 inhab- 
itants. 

ISesgopeck, is bounded N. E. by Newport : S< 



APPENDIX. 191 

E. by Sugarloaf ; W. by Columbia county: and 
N. VV. by the Susquehanna river, which separate? 
it from Salem and Union. It has some very good 
river bottom, but its surface is generally uneven. 
Big and little Wapwallopen, and the Nescopeck 
creek, flow through it. Nescopeck village, hand- 
■somely situated on the bank of the river, has a post- 
office, and several well built houses. A Dridge is 
thrown across the Susquehanna at this place, con- 
necting it with Berwick, a thriving village upon 
the west bank of the river. The Berwick and Eas- 
ton turnpike road and great stage route passes 
through this township. Its exports consist in the 
various kinds of grain and timber. Its population 
is principally German, and amounts probably 
to 1300. 

Newport, is bounded N. E. by Hanovei ; S. 
E. by Sugarloaf; S. W. by Nescopeck; and N# 
W. by the Susquehanna river, which separates it 
from Union and Plymouth. Its timber the same as 
in Hanover and Nescopeck. Some part of it is 
thickly settled, and well cultivated ; but a consid- 
erable portion of it will not admit of culture. An- 
thracite coal is found here in abundance. It con- 
tains bog iron ore, which has been worked to a 
considerable extent at a forge upon the Nanticoke, 
which has been long in operation, 

Nanticoke falls, where a feeder dam is now 
being built for the North Branch canal, is at the 
extreme northern angle of this township. The 
immense amount of surplus water which this dam 
will furnish, and which may be applied to hydrau- 
lic purposesa'ts location at the outlet of the extensive 
valley of Wyoming- — the coal and iron ore in its- 
vicinity, with the facilities of canal transportation* 
are calculated to invite capitalists, and at no very 
distant day, to produce in its immediate neighbour- 
hood, a populous and busy manufacturing village* 
It is situate about 8 miles lam. V/iikes-Barre ; has* 



192 AFI'EJfDIX. 

a post-office, and contains about 1000 inhabitants. 

Nicholson, (so named, from John Nicholson, 
JSsq. formerly Treasurer of Pennsylvania, who 
early formed a settlement in the neighbourhood,) 
is bounded N. by Susquehanna county ; E. by 
Greenfield ; S. by Abington ; and W. by Tunk- 
hannock. 

Its timber along the Tunkhannock, which flows 
through it, is principally pine, but its greater por- 
tion is covered with beech, maple, ash and hemlock. 
The soil, except upon the creek, is similar to that 
of Abington and Greenfield. Its exports are prin- 
cipally lumber. The Philadelphia and Great Bend 
turnpike, passes through it from north to south,, 
dividing it into nearly two equal parts. 

It is situate about 35 miles N. from Wilkes- 
"Barre ; has a post-office, and contains about 800 
inhabitants. 

Northmoreland, is bounded N. by Eatonjanfl 
the Susquehanna river, which separates it from 
Falls ; E. by Exeter -; S. by Dallas and Lehman ; 
and W. by Windham. Its surface is very uneven 
— indeed mountainous ; yet it contains a consider- 
able quantity of land which will admit of culture. 
Its timber is similar to that of Dallas. Its princi- 
pal exports at present, are lumber. It has three 
post-offices, and contains 800 inhabitants. 

Pittstox, is bounded N. by Exeter and Provi- 
dence ; N. E. by Providence ; S. E. by Covington; 
S. W. by Wilkes-Barre ; and W. and N. W. 
by the Susquehanna, which separates it from Kings- 
ton and Exeter. 

The soil of that portion of Pittston which lies 
in the valley is good, and some part of it of a supe- 
rior quality. A great portion of it is mountainous, 
but much of it may be cultivated. It includes the 
mouth, and lower section of the Lackawannock 
river, a strong and never failing stream^ which fur*' 
nishes numerous mill sites*, 



APPJixVlilX. 193 

Falling Spring, a great natural curiosity, near 
the north-western angle of this township, is 
precipitated from a high elevation over an almost 
perpendicular ledge. Its frothy track, of a snow 
white appearance, is seen by the traveller, as he 
advances to the north, at the distance of several 
miles. At this point the Susquehanna breaks into 
the valley of Wyoming. 

Anthracite coal is found here in great abundance. 
i The mouth of the Lackawanna, in Pittston, is 
about 10 miles N. E. from Wilkes-Barre ; 23 
mil est S. W. from Carbondale 5 and 50 miles N. 
W. from the Delaware water gap. The con- 
struction of a canal along the Lackawannock 
river, and a canal or rail road from the Delaware 
water gap, have been authorized by law. If these 
improvements should be executed, and the North 
Branch canal extended, of which there can be- 
little doubt, Pittston, with its immense water 
power, and rich coal mines, will possess advantages 
calculated to attract capitalists, and at no very 
distant period, a populous manufacturing village 
may be expected to grow up within its limits. 

It has three post offices, and contains about 1000 
inhabitants. 

Plymouth, is bounded N. E. by Kingston and 
Dallas 5 S. E. by the Susquehanna, which sepa- 
rates it from Wilkes- Barre, Hanover.and Newport; 
S. W. by Union ; and N. W. by Lehman and 
Dallas. 

That part of Plymouth which lies in the valley 
of Wyoming, consists mainly, of the richest allu- 
vial soil. A great part of its surface is moun- 
tainous ; but its mountains are generally of gentle 
acclivity, and will admit of cultivation. 

The Plymouth coal mines have been worked to a 
greater extent, and with more judgment and skill, 
than any other in the valley. 

The Connecticut settlers, originally appropr%- 

Q 



\V4 APPENDIX. 

ted lands in this township, for the support of 
Schools, from which very considerable aid to that 
object, is now derived. Its citizens have estab- 
lished an academy, or high school, in which the 
languages, and the higher branches of an English 
education, are taught. 

The exports of Plymouth are coal and grain. 

It has two post-offices, and contains about 1200 
inhabitants. 

Providence, is bounded N. E. by Blakeley. ; 
S. E. by Covington ; S. W. and S. by Pitts- 
ton ; W. by Exeter, and N. W. by Falls. 

There is much good, and well cultivated laud 
along the Lackawannock, in this township. Most 
of its surface is mountainous, but much of it may 
be cultivated. 

Anthracite coal is found herein abundance, and 
is easily mined 5 the Lackawannock and the Roaring 
brook, fui^iish mill power to an indefinite extent. 

The Philatlelphia and Great Bend turnpike 
passes through its northern division, and the 
Luzerne and Wayne county turnpike, has its 
commencement here. A village called Centre- 
ville has been recently laid out upon the river, 
which is fast improving. 

The local position of Providence, in relation to 
the great projected improvements in this quarter, 
its immense water power, extensive coal mines, 
and valuable timber, all combine to render its 
prospects of increased population and improve- 
ment, highly flattering. 

Lumber, grain and whiskey, are its principal 
exports. 

It is situate about IT miles N. E. from Wilkes- 
Barre ; has a post-office, and contains about 1000 
inhabitants. 

Salem, is bounded N. E. and S. E. by the 
Susquehanna, which separates it from Nescopeck ? 



.APPENDIX. 195 

S. W. by the county of Columbia ; and N. W. by 
Huntington. 

The greater part of its soil will admit of culti- 
vation. The river side of this township is well 
settled, and pretty well cultivated. The North 
Branch canal passes through it. Anthracite coal 
has been found in its hills, but its extent has not 
been ascertained. Tiie Shickshinny, Beach's, and 
several other streams, furnish pretty good mill 
power. 

A post-omce is established at Beach Grove, in 
this township, the residence of Nathan Beach$ 
Esq. who emigrated with Ks family when an 
infant, and settled in this township in 1769. After 
having served his countrv during the revolutionary 
struggle, he leiurheu aim settled near the spot 
where his family was first located, and is believed 
to be the only man living who resided in the valley 
in 1769. He long acted as a magistrate, and repre- 
sented the county for several years in the Legisla- 
ture. He is now enjoying the abundant fruits of 
a temperate and active life. 

Salem produces a considerable quantity of 
surplus agricultural products for market $ is situ- 
ate about 20 miles S. W. from Wilkes-Barre, and 
contains about 900 inhabitants. 

Sugarloaf, (so named from a mountain which 
at a distance appears shaped like the sugar loaf,) 
is bounded N. E. by Hanover 5 S. E. by North- 
ampton county 5 S. by Schuylkill county ; S. W. 
by Columbia county \ and N. W. by Nescopeck 
and Newport. 

It is very mountainous. The vallies of Nesco- 
peck and Black creek, contain'some excellent land, 
which is pretty generally settled, and well culti- 
vated. Its streams afford excellent mill sites. 

The Berwick and Easton turnpike and great 

stage road passes through it 5 and a canal is in 

ontemplation across the Nescopeck summit, to 



f)$ AFrENDlX. 

iiniie the waters of the Lehigh and Susquehanna., 

Its population is German ; Exports, the various 
kinds of grain. Conyngham, in tins township, is 
a thriving and prosperous village, where there is a 
post-office. 

Sngancaf contains 1£00 inhabitants. 

Tunkhannock, is bounded N. by Susquehanna 
county ; E. by Nicholson and Abington 5 S. E. by 
FaIls|S. W. by the Susquehanna, which separates 
it from Eaton and Windham | and N. W. bf 
Bfairitriin. 

The soil along the Susquehanna, and the valley 
of tire Tunkhannock creek, is productive \ and the 
highlands, a considerable portion of which may be 
cultivated, are covered with valuable timber, con- 
sis* ihg of white pine, oak, chesnut, &c. A village,, 
advantageously situated near the mouth of the 
Tunkhannock, contains a post-office, several stores 
and mechanics' shops 5 and from its local position, 
promises to be a place of considerable importance* 

It produces large quantities of lumber, and some 
of the products of agriculture, for market. 

It is situate about 28 miles N. of Wilkes-Barre. 
and contains about 1:200 inhabitants. 

Union, is bounded N. E. by Lehman and Ply- 
mouth ', S. E, by the Susquehanna, which sepa- 
rates it from Newport and Nescopeck 5 S. W. 
by Salena and Huntington ', and N; W. by Ly- 
coming county. Surface very uneven. Much of 
it may be cultivated. Henlock's, Shickshinny 
and Huntington creeks, head in, or flow through 
this township, which a fiord sufficient mill power, 
The North Branch canal passes through it» Its 
timber and agricultural products are similar to 
those in Huntington. It contains about 800 inhab- 
itants. 

Windham, is bounded N, E. by the Susque- 
hanna, which separates it from Braintrim and 
Tunkhannock ; S, E. by Eaton and Northmore* 



APPENDIX. 197 

Land 5 S. W. by Lehman 5 and N. W. by the 
county of Bradford. 

Its surface is mountainous ; yet it contains some 
excellent land. Mostofits soil will admit of cul- 
tivation. 

The big and little Mahoopeny, are strong and 
never failing mill streams, and its forests contain 
the finest of timber. 

It produces large quantities of lumber for market j 
and within a few years, considerable attention has 
been paid to grazing, and several dairies have pro- 
duced excellent cheese. 

It is situate about 40 miles N. W. from Wilkes- 
Barre, contains a post-office, and about 1000 
inhabitants. 

Wilkes-Barre township, is bounded N. E. by 
Pittston 5 E. by Bear creek, which separates it 
from Covington ; S. W. by Hanover ; and N» 
W. by the Susquehanna, which separates it from 
Plymouth and Kingston. 

Its name is derived from the celebrated John 
JVilkes and Colonel Barre, who were members of 
the British Parliament during the revolutionary 
struggle, and took a decided part in favour of 
Ainerica, against the measures of the British 
ministry. 

Wilkes-Barre is situated in the midst of the an- 
thracite coal formation, and contains an inexhaust- 
ible quantity of this valuable mineral. It is 
believed that no portion of the valley affords great- 
er facilities for the transportion of coal to the 
Susquehanna, or offers stronger inducements to 
capitalists to engage in the coal trade, than the 
coal lands in Wilkes-Barre. They extend from 
the river back to near the top of the mountain, a 
distance of about two miles. The strata are from 
six to twenty-four feet in thickness, and are every 
where exposed where intersected by the streams 
and rivulets from the mountain. The coal is of a 



1.9.3 APPENDIX. 

brilliancy and richness rarely equalled, and no 
where excelled, in the whole anthracite c^al 
formation. 

The Borough of Wilkes Barre, in this township, 
is on the east bank of the Susquehanna, and is the 
seat of Justice for Luzerne county. It contains a 
court-house, jail, public offices, an academy, a 
meeting-house, an Episcopal church, eight or ten 
stores, a -number off mechanics' shops, and about 
one hundred dwelling; houses. 4i The Wyo- 
ming Bank of Wiikes-Bacre," chartered by an act 
of the legislature in 1829, has n«w(Febriiary 1830.) 
commenced its operations. From the general in- 
terest felt for its success, and from the known 
character of its officers, it is believed it will 
contribute largely towards the improvement and 
prosperity of the country. The number of inhab- 
itants within the borough is probably about 1200, 
and about the same number in the township. 

The Wilkes-Barre acaxlemy, incorporated in 
1806, has deservedly acquired a high reputation, 
It generally contains from twenty-five to fifty 
students, of both sexes, pursuing the higher branch- 
es of learning. The Latin ami Greek languages, 
are here taught, together with the mathematics, and 
ail the various branches of an English education. 
This institution has produced some respectable 
■scholars, and has prepared numerous young men 
to enter the northern colleges. 

The Wyoming Seminary, for the education of 
young ladies, recently established at Wilkes-Barre, 
promises as extensive usefulness, as any institution 
of the kind in our country. Under the care of 
Mrs. Chapman, (the widow of the author of the 
preceding history,) its principal, and Miss Trott, 
her assistant, both highly accomplished, and well 
qualified instructors, this Seminary has excited 
an interest, and is acquiring a reputation, not 
usual in the infancy of institutions of the kind. 



APPENDIX. 1&§ 

From the general healthiness of the valley, and 
tlie delightful scenery, and natural charms which 
it affuxls — from the excellent society of the village 
-—the cheapness of living-, and the comnetencv of 
the instructors, the schools of Wilkes-Barre deser- 
vedly merit extensive patronage and support. 

In conclusion it is proposed to take a summary^ 
and more connected view of the anthracite coal 
formation, and of the improvements in progress, 
and in contemplation, in this interesting region of 
country. 

The origin of the anthracite coal formation, has 
been a fruitful subject of speculation. It is gen- 
erally believed to be of vegetable origin, and there 
are certainly many facts which naturally lead to 
this conclusion. Its component parts, properties, 
and localities,and the various vegetable impressions 
which are every where plainly to be seen in this 
mineral, and also in the slate rock, which generally 
covers it, are regarded as conclusive evidences, that 
its first existence depended upon vegetable matter. 
It is supposed too, that its first formation was in 
horizontal strata, and that by some great convul- 
sion of nature, they have been broken up, and the 
fragments thrown into the situations in winch they 
are now found, inclining to every point of the com- 
pass, and in every position from horizontal to verti- 
cal. This opinion is as strongly supported by 
appearances in every part of the anthracite coal 
formation, as is the fact of its vegetable origin. 

But at what period, and by what means such 
immense masses of vegetable matter were col- 
lected, and by what great convulsion of nature 
they were broken up after their formation, are 
problems, the solutions of which, are left entirely 
to conjecture. No history which has come down 
to us, furnishes any satisfactory data by which 
these, enquiries can be answered. Indeco, it 
would seem very difficult to sustain this theory, 



£00 APPENDIX. 

without intrenching upon the Mosaic account of 
the creation, and the unbroken chain of history 
since that period. 

To suppose this mineral a primitive material in 
the formation of the earth 5 that it has undergone 
some mutations 13 the lapse of ages 5 and that its 
original situation was materially changed — its 
strata divided, and thrown into different positions, 
when " the fountains of the great deep were broken 
up," would certainly relieve the subject from 
most of the difficulties in which science involves 
it, without impeaching the integrity of the sacred 
history, or detracting from the wisdom and good- 
ness of the great Author and Maker of all things. 

The anthracite coal formation, in this region, 
commences near the head waters of the Lacka- 
wannock, in Wayne county and extends down the 
valley of that stream to the Susquehanna river, at 
the head of the Wyoming valley ; thence down 
the valley of Wyoming, to its southern extremity. 
Here its strata are lost in the mountains, until they 
again make their appearance at the Beaver mead- 
ows, and Mauch Chunk, in Northampton county, 
at the head waters of the Schuylkill, in Schuylkill 
county, and near the sources of most of the princi- 
pal tributaries of the Susquehanna, from the 
east, below Sunbury, as far south as the stony 
creek, between the Kittaning and Peter's moun- 
tains, in Dauphin county. Its width through the 
valiies of the Lackawannock and Wyoming, is 
from one to live miles It is seen cropping out 
upon the hills and mountains, on each side of the 
Lackawannock, (and in many places forming the 
bed of that stream,) through the townships of 
Blakeley, Providence, and part of Pittston, where 
it reaches the Susquehanna — thence it extends 
through Pittston, Wilkes-Barre, Hanover and 
Newport, upon tiie east side of thf river, and is 
found in great abundance, and has been esten- 



APPENDIX. £01 

srvely mined in Plymouth, upon the west side of 
the river. It lias also been discovered on the 
west, side of the river in Kingston, in the valley of 
Wyoming., and in Salem and Huntington, S. W. 
of the valley Its general range is from north- 
east to sou tli- west, and its length not far from 
seventy miles. 

There are four or five different strata of coal, 
varying from six to twenty-four feet in thickness, 
with intervening strata 01 coarse sand stone and 
slate ; which latter immediately covers the coal, 
and contains innumerable vegetable impressions. 
These different strata may be traced from near 
Carbondale, to the foot of the Wyoming valley, as 
they are intersected by ravines formed by the 
mountain streams, for the distance of more than 
fifty miles. The dip of the coal strata varies from 
five to fifteen degrees. Their inclination, it is be* 
lieved, is less where the surface of the earth is 
level, and is greater, and more irregular, where the 
surface is broken and uneven. Their inclination, 
it is believed, will be found generally to corres- 
pond very nearly with that of the surface of the 
superincumbent earth or rock. These circumstan- 
ces are most favorable to mining operations. 

No examinations have as yet been made with the 
auger, to ascertain whether the strata exposed by 
the intersection of rivulets, are continuous through- 
cut this extensive coal formation 5 but every 
appearance indicates that such is the fact. The 
sane number of strata appear, (where exposed,] 
in the same range, and of the same thickness ; and 
although they may be frequently ruptured trans- 
versely, as well as longitudinally, yet the great 
fragments remain without any material change of 
position. This last remark is intended to apply 
more particularly to the Wyoming and Lackawan- 
nock vallies, where the coal strata are believed to 
be more regular, and their dip less, and move urii- 



.202 * appendix. 

form, than in any other portion of the anthracite 
coal formation. 

If the data which are here furnished approximate 
near the truth, this coal tract contains more tiian 
five thousand millions of tons of this mineral, which 
at six cents per ton, in the mine, will amount to 
more than t kree hundred millions of dollars. 

The coal localities, from which the greatest fa- 
cilities of access are afforded to the Susquehanna, 
cr to the canal, (if it should be extended through 
the Wyoming valley, of which there can be no 
doubt,) are those of Wilkes-Barre and Pittston.jon 
the east, and of Plymouth, on the west side of the 
river; and of these, the coal of Wilkes-Barre and 
Plymouth, for thickness and extent of strata, have 
a decided preference. 

That the Wyoming coal is equal, if net superior^ 
to any of the anthracite species, is known to every 
practical man acquainted with the subject, and ad- 
mitted by every mineralogist, and man of science* 
who has visited the country and examined for him- 
self. That its extent, thickness of strata, the case 
with which it may be mined, and the facilities 
which its localities afford for its transportation to 
the Susquehanna, or to the canal when constructed ? 
are not here over- rated, a partial examination upon 
the ground, will furnish the most clear and satis- 
factory evidence. 

But notwithstanding the extent, the richness, and 
*>ther advantages of this coal tract, so well calcu- 
lated to attract capitalists, and encourage improve- 
ments, it still remains comparatively very little 
known in Pennsylvania.. The late Gov. Clinton of 
New York, knew, and appreciated its value : and 
in his last message to the Legislature, urged the 
opening of every practicable avenue, by canal and 
rail road, to those extensive and inexhaustible 
mines. They have been reached near tLeij 
extreme iiortli-eastern extent, at the expense ©f 



APPENDIX. 20S 

two millions, by a company of enterprizing ci i- 
zens of that great state, aided by her legislature. 
Besides this, no other avenue has oeen opened 
(Feb. 1830) to this invaluable mineral. It remains 
locked up in its native hills and mountains, and 
will there repose undisturbed, until other facilities 
are afforded for its transportation, than the hazard- 
ous, expensive, and frequently disastrous floods of 
the Susquehanna. 

IMPROVEMENTS. 

The turnpike roads now finished, and which 
have been referred to under different heads in this 
appendix, are here enumerated, and their extent 
pointed out, 

The Milford and Owego, crosses the N. E. 
angle of the county, and passes through Blakeley 
and Greenfield townships. This is the shortest, 
and most expeditious stage route from the city of 
New York, to the western part of that state 

The Wilkes-Barre and Clifford, is comple- 
ted from the Cochecton and Great Bend turn- 
pike in Susquehanna county, to Blakeley, upon the 
Lackawannock, in Luzerne county, from which 
there is a good road; to Wilkes-Barre. It passes 
through the village of Dundaff, in Susquehanna, 
and Greenfield and Blakeley, in Luzerne. On 
this road, a tri- weekly stage is established. 

The Luzerne and Wayne county, passes through 
Providence and Blakeley, intersecting the Phila- 
delphia and Great Bend, the Easton and Belmont, 
and the Milford and Owego turnpikes. 

The Carbondale road, formed by theliudson and 
Delaware Canal Company, and extends from 
Carbondale to the Milford and Owego turnpike, at 
Rix's Gap. 

The Philadelphia and Great Bend, passes 
through Covington, Providence, Abington and 
Nicholson townships. 



204 APPENDIX. 

The Abington and Waterford, commences in 
Abington, and passes through Nicholson and Tunk- 
hannock. 

The Wilkes-Barre and Brulgewater, passes 
through Kingston, Exeter, Northmoreland, Eaton 
and Tunkhannock. On this road a tri- weekly stage 
is established, from Philadelphia to Buffalo, and a 
daily stage from the city of Washington to Sack- 
ett's ^Harbour. The traveller for health or for 
pleasure, could not select a more favourable route 
for a summer's excursion than this ; and whilst he 
would be highly gratified with the wild, romantic 
and picturesque prospects which every where pre- 
sent themselves, he could not deny himself the 
pleasure of lingering a while in the delightful val- 
ley of Wyoming, in viewing its natural curiosities^ 
and in surveying its mineral treasures. 

The Easton and Wilkes-Barre, passes through 
Wilkes-Barre and Covington, and is part of the 
great stage route mentioned above. 

The Berwick and Newtown, passes through 
Huntington township, and 

The Berwick and Easton, passes through 
Nescopeck and Sugarloaf. On these two latter, 
tri-weekly stages are established. 

Besides these, acts have been passed for the in- 
corporation of companies, to make several artificial 
roads in the county. The most important of which 
at present, are from Wilkes-Barre, through Solo- 
mon's Gap, to Lowrytown, upon the Lehigh, a 
distance of little more than twenty miles ; and 
from Carbondale down the Lackawannock about 
ten miles. These roads are of great interest to the 
public, and it is hoped they will soon be com- 
menced. 

CANALS AND RAIL ROADS. 

An act has been passed to incorporate a company 
(o construct a canal from the Susquehanna rivcry 



Ai'i-ENDixv &Gfr 

at the mouth of the Nescopeck creek up tire valley 
of that stream ; thence across the summit, and down 
Wright's creek to the Lehigh, a distance of thirty- 
seven miles. This route was examined by Mon- 
cure Robinson, a distinguished Engineer, under 
the direction of the beard of canal .commissioners, 
in the summer of 1828, and was found to be well 
adapted to this improvement. A superabundant 
supply of water can be introduced upon the sum- 
mit, by a comparatively short feeder. This point, 
it is believed, possesses advantages over every 
other in Pennsylvania, for a continuous water 
communication between the Susquehanna and Del- 
aware : and will, at some day, be the great 
thoroughfare through which much of the immense- 
tonnage of the upper ' Susquel&pna will puss to 
Philadelphia. 

The distance by tjjfs ' route and the North 
Branch canal, from .Wilkes-Barre to the mouth of* 
Wright's- ereekv^wiU be about sixty-five miles ; 
whereas, from Wilkes-Bdrre, through Solomon's 
Gap, to the same point upon the Lehigh,. the direct 
distance is but eleven miles. It IS' believed that a 
rail road, overcoming the elevation, (which is-con- 
siderable,) by lifts and levels, might be located 
between these points, within the distance of twenty 
miles. It would then be questionable whether the 
distance gained would compensate for the delay, 
trouble and expense of the necessary transfer of 
tonnage from canal boats to rail road carriages, and 
vise^ersa. 

An act has also been passed for the incorpora- 
tion of a company for the construction of a canal 
or rail road from the Water Gap of the Delaware 
to the mouth of the Lackawannock, at the head of 
the Wyoming valley. This route was also exam- 
ined by Mr. Robinson f and no doubt is entertained 
that a rail road may be advantageously located be- 
tween these points. The distance is about fiftj 

R 



g£6 APPFffDIX. 

miles. This improvement was intended, both as, 
a connection between the Delaware and North 
Branch divisions of the Pennsylvania canal, and as 
an extension of the line of communication between, 
the Hudson and the Susquehanna, by the contem- 
plated Orange and Sussex canaL These great im- 
provements were projected with the view, almost 
exclusively, of penetrating the Wyoming coal 
region, and were among the great objects recom- 
mended by tne lamented Clinton, in his last mes- 
sage to the Legislature. They are certainly worthy 
of the attention, if not of the states interested, at 
least, of individuals of capital and enterprise. 

An act has also been passed for incorporating a 
Company to improve the navigation of the Lacka- 
wannock. That this improvement will be effected, 
there can be little doubt. The distance from 
patbi ml ale, at the termination of the improvements 
of the Hudson and Delaware Canal Company,- ta 
the Susquehanna, at the mouth of the Lackawan- 
nock, is about twenty-three miles. Extend the 
North Branch canal sixteen miles, and the improve- 
ment of the Lackawannock, would connect it with 
the improvements of the above Company, and pass 
throughout its whole extent, through a portion of 
the richest coal formation on earth. This cf>al 
tract, except at Carbondale, is worthless, without 
this, or some other improvement, to facilitate 
transportation. 

An act for the incorporation of a company, has 
also been obtained, for making a rail road from the 
Lackawannock coal mines, to the mouth of the 
Chenango river, on the Susquehanna. This im- 
provement was likewise referred to, and re- 
commended by, Governor Clinton, in his last 
message. If the Chenango canal should be under- 
taken, the capital and enterprise of the citizens of 
New-York, will he embarked in this great worjg* 
and ensure its execution* 



APPENDIX. SO?" 

The communication from the Hudson river to 
Carbondale, the work of the Hudson and Delaware 
Canal Company, which has been frequently refer- 
red to, is by canal from the Hudson to the Dela- 
ware, near Carpenter's point 5 thence up the 
eastern bank of the Delaware, to the mouth of 
the Lackawaxen ; thence crossing the Delaware 
by a pool formed by a dam across that river, and 
fir. the Lackawaxen to Horesdale, at the forks of 
the Dy berry, where it terminates in an artificial ba« 
sin. a distance of little more than one hundred 
miles 5 thence by rail road across the Lackawan- 
nock mountain, to Carbondale, sixteen miles. 

The persevering exertions of tin's company, in 
overcoming difficulties, which a few years since 
would have been regarded as insurmountable, enti- 
tle them to every praise. The operations upon their 
rail road was originally designed to be carried on by 
stationary and locomotive engines ; but in conse- 
quence of the short curvatures,which the structure of 
tb e country rendered necessary and the great weight 
of the locomotive engines, the company have been 
under the necessity of substituting horse power 
Upon the levels for the present. The stationary 
engines operate well, and the company have been 
for several months, during this season, (1829) 
transporting over their rail road, from one hundred 
and fifty, to two hundred tons of coal per day. 
They have triumphed over many difficulties, and it 
is hoped andjbelieved,with some trifling alterations, 
and improvements, which experience will suggest,. 
they will shortly realize from their labours a rich 
and well merited reward. 

Most of the foregoing canal and rail road is*« 
provements, and others not referred to, have bee!} 
projected by citizens and capitalists of New York, 
with the view of reaching this extensive coal tract ; 
and most, if not all of them, when executed, will 
fee of great and lasting advantage to this section pf 



SOB appendix; 

the state. But no improvement in this quarter* 
excites so much interest, and produces so much 
anxiety for its extension and early completion, as 
the North Branch Canal. This important work- 
was projected by Pennsylvania, and is designed 
exclusively for her benefit ; and,- without under- 
valuing other interests* nothing is hazarded in pro- 
nouncing it the most promising portion of the great 
system of improvement now m progress of execu- 
tion. But before this section of the country, or 
the State, can reap any advantages from this im- 
provement, it must be extended to the head of the 
Wyoming valley, so as fully to penetrate the coal 
formation ; and before the full advantages of this 
improvement can be realized, it must be extended 
to the New York line, and there connected with the' 
C hem tins; canal. 

The distance from Nanticoke, the point at which 
the canal is now under contract, to the State line, 
is one hundred and six miles. The Chemung ca- 
nal is now (Dec. 1829) advertised for contract, 
from the Seneca lake to Newtown, within fourteen- 
miles of the State line ; and these fourteen miles 
are over almost a dead alluvial level, presenting no 
difficulties in the construction of a canal. When the 
North Branch canal shall be extended, and a con- 
nection formed with the Seneca lake, the richest and - 
fairest portion of the state of New York, will pour 
its agricultural and mineral products into the lap of 
Pennsylvania, in a ceaseless and never ending 
stream. This may now be thought fancy; but if 
Pennsylvania is true to her interests, it will befacU 

The distance from New York, by 1 
the Erie canal, and the Seneca river, > ST9 mile& 
the outlet of the Seneca lake, is J 

From Philadelphia by the Union, 1 
Pennsylvania and Chemung; Canals, v 361 milc$V 
to the head of Seneca lake, is J 

Difference in favor of Philadelphia, 18.. mil ess 



APPENDIX. 209 

To this advantage in distance, may be added 
the facts, that from the Seneca to Philadelphia^ 
by the Union or Nescopeck canals, the trouble? 
expense and delay of transshipment, would be 
avoided, which must be incurred by the Erie ca- 
nal ; — that the Pennsylvania canal will be open 
for several weeks earlier, and several weeks later^ 
in the season, than the Erie canal 5 and that Phil- 
adelphia is often found to be a better market than 
New York for the staples of the "Lake" country." 

The coal tonnage of the Wyoming valley alone, 
it is believed, will be sufficient to support the 
North Branch canal ; but when to this is super- 
added the immense amount of iron from the middle 
counties of Pennsylvania, and the merchandize 
from Philadelphia, which will ascend this canal* 
to supply the extensive regions bordering upon the 
lakes 5 and the salt, the plaster, and the agricul- 
tural products which will descend through this 
avenue, and seek a market in Philadelphia ; the 
income from this improvement will be swelled to 
an amount far exceeding the most sanguine calcu- 
lations. In short, until all these sources of com- 
merce are dried up or exhausted, which thousands 
of years will not be able to accomplish, the North 
Branch canal must, and will be, one of the most 
productive portions of the great system of im- 
provement in Pennsylvania, 



ERRATA. 

Page 

40 — 12th line for Jay read Sat. 

45 — £0th line, tor oireet reati direct. 

5t — 1 Slh line, for reports lead report. 
64 — 28th line, lor prisoners read persons, 

8& — 14 (h line, for rtmovect read rekoido 

95 — 5th line, for ivnen read when. 
15C — 9th line, for Jired read fired. 
168— 18th line, for 1779 read 1799. 
18b- — 18th line, for timterrtbu land. 
200— 28th line, for KiUaning read KiTTATi*m? c 



113 82 ii 



N -08 



r*" • 








^ 1 










» ^ 






4> v V 






p «. «*" 



% w 









^•9 •; 





"&» c£ ♦J 







1 








^=W^ N. MANCHESTER, 
INDIANA 46962 




